Economy
Commodities / Energy
EIA: Lower 48 working gas rose 15 billion cubic feet to 3,184 billion cubic feet as of August 21
Week ending August 21, 2026: Lower 48 working gas was 3,184 billion cubic feet, up 15 from 3,169. Stocks were 30 billion cubic feet below last year and 167 billion cubic feet above the five-year average.
Ethan Cole · TickerGrove Energy Desk · Published 08-27-2026 · U.S. Energy Information Administration
Sources
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report for week ending August 21, 2026, released August 27, 2026 at 10:30 a.m., independently re-read from https://ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html. Machine-readable summary https://ir.eia.gov/ngs/wngsr.txt checked for the same Lower 48 totals. Next release September 3, 2026.
- Working gas (L48)
- 3,184 Bcf
- Net change
- +15 Bcf
- vs 5-year average
- +167 Bcf
Lower 48 working-gas stocks, the weekly net change, year-ago and five-year comparisons, and regional lines from the EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report for week ending August 21, 2026. Exact Bcf stays in the figures. This is a volume table, not a price.
EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, August 27, 2026
TickerGrove
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report for the week ending August 21, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. on August 27, 2026. Working gas in underground storage in the Lower 48 states was 3,184 billion cubic feet as of Friday, August 21, 2026, according to EIA estimates. That is a net increase of 15 billion cubic feet from 3,169 billion cubic feet the prior week. Stocks were 30 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 167 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3,017 billion cubic feet. At 3,184 billion cubic feet, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
What changed
The locked headline print is 3,184 billion cubic feet of working gas in Lower 48 underground storage as of Friday, August 21, 2026, a net increase of 15 billion cubic feet from 3,169 billion cubic feet the prior week. Stocks were 30 billion cubic feet less than last year’s 3,214 billion cubic feet, or minus 0.9 percent, and 167 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3,017 billion cubic feet, or plus 5.5 percent. Total working gas is within the five-year historical range. By region, East stocks were 727 billion cubic feet, up 19; Midwest 866, up 18; Mountain 238, up 1; Pacific 293, down 3; and South Central 1,061, down 19, of which salt 248, down 20, and nonsalt 813, up 1. Those regional lines are the same volume table as the Lower 48 total. They are not a price.
The report’s sampling table prints a coefficient of variation of 0.4 percent for total Lower 48 working-gas stocks and a standard error of 0.9 billion cubic feet for the net change. Those are EIA’s estimated measures of sampling variability. They are not a revision of the 3,184 billion cubic feet print and not a second table of stocks.
Why it matters
This is a weekly volume table of working gas in underground storage, not a contract tape and not a spot-price print. EIA estimates working gas in the Lower 48 as of Friday, August 21, 2026. The year-ago and five-year comparisons sit beside that Friday print. They are not a TickerGrove forecast of winter supply or a call on next week’s injection or withdrawal.
What to watch
The report was released at 10:30 a.m. on August 27, 2026. The next Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report is scheduled for September 3, 2026. That next release would print the week after August 21. This page does not print that later week.
Working gas is gas already in underground storage
EIA estimated 3,184 billion cubic feet of working gas in Lower 48 underground storage as of Friday, August 21, 2026, a net increase of 15 billion cubic feet from the prior week. That is a volume of gas in the ground, not a price.
Keep the net change, the year-ago gap, and the five-year gap on separate lines
Use 3,184 billion cubic feet as the Friday, August 21 print and 3,169 as last week’s level. The year-ago stock is 3,214 billion cubic feet, 30 billion cubic feet higher than this week, or minus 0.9 percent for this week versus last year. The five-year average is 3,017 billion cubic feet; this week is 167 billion cubic feet above it, or plus 5.5 percent. South Central’s 19 billion cubic foot decline is the salt facility line down 20 and the nonsalt line up 1. Sampling: total coefficient of variation 0.4 percent; standard error on the net change 0.9 billion cubic feet.
What we do not know
This page does not print a hub price or a contract settlement. It does not treat the storage table as a winter-supply forecast. It does not convert billion cubic feet into a price. The 0.4 percent coefficient of variation and the 900 million cubic foot standard error are sampling measures, not a second stocks print. The next release on September 3, 2026, is not on this page.
Corrections
We do not silently rewrite a published line. A correction is a new labeled piece, not an invisible edit.
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Sources & evidence
Primary documents used for this piece. Internal claim-lineage notes stay off this page.
U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, August 27, 2026
As of Friday, August 21, 2026
U.S. Energy Information Administration
Machine-readable Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report summary, week ending August 21, 2026
2026-08-27
Figures used in this article
Lower 48 working-gas stocks, the weekly net change, year-ago and five-year comparisons, and regional lines from the EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report for week ending August 21, 2026. Exact Bcf stays in the figures. This is a volume table, not a price.
Figure
3,184 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; EIA working-gas stocks
Figure
3,169 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Prior week, as of Friday, August 14, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; prior-week stocks
Figure
+15 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Week ending August 21, 2026 versus prior week
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; net increase; implied flow 15 Bcf
Figure
3,214 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Year ago, as of August 21, 2025
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; year-ago stocks
Figure
−30 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- August 21, 2026 versus year ago
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; 3,184 versus 3,214
Figure
−0.9%
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- August 21, 2026 versus year ago
- Unit / basis
- % change from year-ago stocks
Figure
3,017 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Five-year average, 2021–2025, same week
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; five-year average stocks
Figure
+167 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- August 21, 2026 versus five-year average
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; 3,184 versus 3,017
Figure
+5.5%
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- August 21, 2026 versus five-year average
- Unit / basis
- % change from five-year average stocks
Figure
727 Bcf / +19 Bcf
- Entity
- East region working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; stocks and net change
Figure
866 Bcf / +18 Bcf
- Entity
- Midwest region working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; stocks and net change
Figure
238 Bcf / +1 Bcf
- Entity
- Mountain region working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; stocks and net change
Figure
293 Bcf / −3 Bcf
- Entity
- Pacific region working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; stocks and net change
Figure
1,061 Bcf / −19 Bcf
- Entity
- South Central region working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; stocks and net change
Figure
248 Bcf / −20 Bcf
- Entity
- South Central salt working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; salt subset of South Central
Figure
813 Bcf / +1 Bcf
- Entity
- South Central nonsalt working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- As of Friday, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; nonsalt subset of South Central
Figure
0.4%
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Coefficient of variation for stocks, August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- % of working gas; estimated sampling variability
Figure
0.9 Bcf
- Entity
- U.S. Lower 48 working gas in underground storage
- Period / as-of
- Standard error for the net change, week ending August 21, 2026
- Unit / basis
- billion cubic feet; estimated sampling variability
Figure
10:30 a.m.
- Entity
- U.S. Energy Information Administration
- Period / as-of
- August 27, 2026 release
- Unit / basis
- clock time as printed on the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
Figure
September 3, 2026
- Entity
- U.S. Energy Information Administration
- Period / as-of
- Next Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
- Unit / basis
- next-release date as printed