The end of the natural gas winter season is defined by March rolling off the books. It is a time for reflection along with taking on the challenges that lie ahead. The reflection focused on the turn of the calendar as the beginning of 2025 delivered colder than normal temperatures across the Lower 48 with a focus east of the Rockies.  February turned out to be a continuation of the weather pattern and with the Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow, the winter season was projected to be extended for another six weeks. This took us into the month of March where the natural gas space was dealing with a storage situation that saw the draw down escalate as the production values could not keep pace with the heating demand, power burns and LNG exports.  The heating demand continued into March while the LNG hit new highs as Plaquemines was taking up to 2.9 BCF/d.  Power burns were the saving grace this past month as the renewable sector, specifically wind generation, was quite strong during the light load and additive to the solar capacity increases in play.

Figure 1 | Lower 48 Daily Power Burns – Year on Year Comparison