By Anthony Harrup

U.S. natural gas inventories likely saw a below-average withdrawal last week amid milder-than-usual weather for early January, increasing the storage surplus over the five-year average, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal.

Gas in underground storage is expected to have fallen by 87 billion cubic feet to 3,169 Bcf in the week ended Jan. 9, according to the average estimate of 11 analysts, brokers and traders. Estimates range from a draw of 74 Bcf to a draw of 97 Bcf.

The expected decrease compares with the five-year average withdrawal for the week of 146 Bcf, and would raise the surplus over the 2021-2025 average to 90 Bcf from 31 Bcf the week before.

In its latest Short Term Energy Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration cut its first-quarter Henry Hub spot price estimate to $3.38 per million British thermal units from $4.35 previously.

"Our forecast assumes January temperatures will be milder-than-normal, which will likely limit natural gas consumption during the time of year when demand for space heating typically reaches its annual peak," the EIA said. "We assume milder weather through the rest of the 2025-2026 winter heating season ending in March."

The EIA is scheduled to report natural gas storage data on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 14, 2026 12:33 ET (17:33 GMT)

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