Market Snapshot: Canada’s natural gas storage at winter’s end: western surplus, eastern drawdowns
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Release date: 2026-05-13
By the end of March 2026, Canada had 684 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas in storage.Footnote 1 This is 4% more than the end of March last year, and 22% above the average of the last five years—despite high gas demand in central and eastern Canada during the 2025/2026 winter.
Record national storage and production heading into winter, driven by western Canada
Canada’s 2025/2026 storage withdrawal season began with unprecedented levels of natural gas inventories. On 7 November 2025, inventories reached 1,098 Bcf, exceeding the record high set in 2024 by 2%. Strong Canadian production was a key driver of these high inventory levels.
In November 2025, average monthly marketable natural gas production surpassed 20 Bcf per day (Bcf/d) for the first time on record, reaching 20.04 Bcf/d.Footnote 2 Over 99.9% of this was produced in western Canada, which led to historically high storage levels throughout the winter in western Canada, where the majority of Canada’s natural gas inventories are stored.
Figure 1: Natural gas inventories in western Canada
Source and Text Alternative
Source: Canada Energy Regulator (CER)
Disclaimer: The CER provides estimated storage data for informational purposes and cannot ensure its absolute accuracy. The CER assumes no responsibility for the risks associated with using the data. This dataset should be used to indicate directional changes in storage rather than representing a true, absolute volume of gas in storage on any particular day.
The CER estimated daily natural gas inventories in storage to supplement publicly available storage data and to provide timely, directional insight into short‑term changes in natural gas inventories. The estimates are based on publicly available information about daily storage and receipt deliveries on connected pipelines, and monthly storage inventory data from Statistics Canada.
Text Alternative: This chart shows daily natural gas storage levels in western Canada from January 2016 through March 2026.
The background of the chart contains a light grey shaded band, which represents the 10 year historical range of storage levels from 2016 to 2025. This range provides historical context for how high and low storage levels have typically been.
Displayed on top of the shaded range are four distinct lines, each representing a different data series:
- A dark blue line shows storage levels for 2026.
- A yellow line shows storage levels for 2025.
- A light blue line represents the 5 year average daily storage level between 2021 to 2025.
- A green line represents the 10 year average daily storage level between 2016 to 2025.
Both the historical range and all four data series follow a clear seasonal pattern. Storage levels are highest in the fall, decline through the winter, reach a low point in late winter or early spring, and then rise again through the spring and summer.
The 2025 and 2026 inventory lines are near the upper edge of the historical range, indicating that storage levels in recent years have been unusually high compared to the longer term historical record.
Strong winter demand in central and eastern Canada
In contrast, natural gas storage in central and eastern Canada was impacted by high demand from a cold winter. In late January, winter storm Fern brought prolonged periods of extreme cold across parts of the eastern United States (U.S.), as well as much of central and eastern Canada, significantly increasing natural gas use for space heating and electricity generation. This added to already elevated seasonal natural gas demand in central and eastern Canada in November and December 2025.
At the same time, U.S. production freeze‑offs constrained American natural gas supply. During the coldest period, Ontario imported less gas, which further tightened regional supply conditions. To meet demand, central and eastern Canada relied heavily on withdrawing gas from storage. This was supplemented by the increasing flow of gas from western Canada via the TC Energy Canadian Mainline.
As a result, natural gas storage inventories in central and eastern Canada ended the 2025/2026 storage withdrawal season below both the five‑ and ten‑year averages, but inventories returned to within the 10-year range due to injections into storage after winter storm Fern.
Figure 2: Natural gas inventories in central Canada
Source and Text Alternative
Source: Canada Energy Regulator (CER)
Disclaimer: The CER provides estimated storage data for informational purposes and cannot ensure its absolute accuracy. The CER assumes no responsibility for the risks associated with using the data. This dataset should be used to indicate directional changes in storage rather than representing a true, absolute volume of gas in storage on any particular day.
The CER estimated daily natural gas inventories in storage to supplement publicly available storage data and to provide timely, directional insight into short‑term changes in natural gas inventories. The estimates are based on publicly available information about daily storage and receipt deliveries on connected pipelines, and monthly storage inventory data from Statistics Canada.
Text Alternative: This chart shows daily natural gas storage levels in central Canada from January 2016 to March 2026.
The background of the chart contains a light grey shaded band, which represents the 10 year historical range of storage levels from 2016 to 2025. This range provides historical context for how high and low storage levels have typically been.
Displayed on top of the shaded range are four distinct lines, each representing a different data series:
- A dark blue line shows storage levels for 2026.
- A yellow line shows storage levels for 2025.
- A light blue line represents the 5 year average daily storage level between 2021 to 2025.
- A green line represents the 10 year average daily storage level between 2016 to 2025.
Both the historical range and all four data series follow a clear seasonal pattern. Storage levels are highest in the fall, decline through the winter, reach a low point in late winter or early spring, and then rise again through the spring and summer.
The 2025 and 2026 storage lines show a sharp decline in inventory levels during January and February, reflecting strong winter withdrawals. During this period, 2026 storage levels briefly fall below the 10‑year historical range for that time of year, indicating unusually large withdrawals relative to historical norms. By late February and into March, both lines level out, and storage levels return to within the 10‑year historical range. However, 2026 storage levels remained below both the 5‑year and 10‑year averages.
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