Glut no more for US gas

North American consumers will pay more for their gas this winter as stocks build more slowly and demand rises

US household spending for natural gas, heating oil, electricity, and propane will rise by 38%, 26%, and 22% respectively between October this year and March 2017, compared with the same period last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Demand has already started to rise. High temperatures throughout the summer-combined with cheap natural gas prices-have led to record levels of consumption in the power sector. On 21 July it reached its highest-ever daily level, at 40.9bn cubic feet per day. Natural gas consumption for the whole of July was 4.12bn cf/d higher than a year earlier, reaching 71.11bn cf/d. That's a rise of almost 6%. Since then, average monthly gas consum