EIA Raises Its Forecast for Natural Gas in Storage After a Warm Start to November

The US Energy Information Administration, or EIA, released its November 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook on November 10, 2026. The headline of its press release of the same day is about natural gas storage. Parts of the release follow, not the whole.

The release says EIA is the statistical and analytical agency within the Department of Energy. By law, it says, its data, analysis and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the government. Its views therefore should not be construed as those of the Department of Energy or other federal agencies.

More Gas in Storage

EIA now expects more natural gas in US storage at the end of November than it forecast in October. The difference is "almost 70 billion cubic feet." A warm start to the month is easing pressure on natural gas prices, the release says.

EIA forecasts more gas in storage throughout this winter. As a result, it forecasts a lower Henry Hub spot price. It forecasts an average of $2.87 per million British thermal units from November through March. That forecast is 16% less over that period than the one EIA made last month.

A plant that burns gas beside a data center buys a fuel whose price forecast moved this far in one month. Who carries that risk?

Generation and Exports

EIA expects US electric power sector generation to be up 2.7% in 2026 from 2025. That would be a record of "almost 4,390 billion kilowatthours." Businesses used more electricity, the release says, and a warmer-than-average summer increased demand for air conditioning. EIA expects most generation growth over the forecast period to come from utility-scale solar, as capacity increases.

EIA also forecasts a rise in US gross exports of liquefied natural gas, "from about 15 billion cubic feet per day in 2025 to about 19 billion cubic feet per day in 2027." That is as new export capacity comes online and existing facilities expand, the release says.