今年更冷冬季将增加美国石油和天然气需求量

据国外媒体8月26日休斯敦报道，美国夏季驾车高峰季节将在9月5日的劳动节那天结束，而对能源市场的关注已经切换到即将来临的冬季供暖季节。

美国2015/2016冬季创下了最热的纪录，这大幅减少了天然气和取暖油的消费量。

美国冬季的气温变化多端，但是，2016/2017冬季将几乎可以肯定会更冷，这应该导致天然气和取暖油需求量的显著增加。

与2014/2015冬季相比，2015/2016冬季温暖的气候帮助把天然气消费量削减了4%以上。根据美国能源信息署（EIA），2015/2016冬季包括取暖油在内的馏分燃料油的消费量下降幅度超过了9%。

今年3月份以前，温暖的天气导致天然气库存量达到了这一年内中创纪录的高水平，而馏分燃料油的库存量达到了至少35年来的最高季节性水平。

李峻编译

原文如下：

Colder 2016-17 Winter to Boost U.S. oil and gas Demand

Global Energy News/August 26, 2016/Houston

The U.S. summer driving season ends with Labor Day on Sep 5, and the attention of the energy markets is already switching to the forthcoming winter heating season.

The winter of 2015/16 was the warmest on record, which sharply reduced consumption of both natural gas and heating oil

Average winter temperatures are very variable, but the winter of 2016/17 will almost certainly be colder, which should lead to a significant increase in gas and heating oil demand.

Warm weather helped cut natural gas consumption by more than 4 percent compared with the winter of 2014/15.

Consumption of distillate fuel oil, which includes heating oil, fell more than 9 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

By March 2016, the warm weather left gas stocks at a record high level for the time of year and distillate fuel oil stocks at the highest seasonal level for at least 35 years.