Slide 14 of 19
Notes:
- U.S. inventories of propane benefited from a late pre-season build that pushed inventories to over 65 million barrels by early November 2000, the second highest peak pre-heating season level since 1986.
- Although propane inventories were expected to remain within the normal range for the duration of the 2000-01 heating season, cold weather in November and December, along with recently high natural gas prices that discouraged propane production from gas processing, resulted in stocks falling below the normal range by the end of December.
- However, if the weather remains seasonally normal, and the recent decline in natural gas prices holds, EIA expects the propane inventory drawdown to slow. This is reflected in the data for January 19, which showed a draw of only 2.1 million barrels, compared to more than twice that rate in recent weeks.
