Investing.com - The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. fell by 93 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 9, while analysts had forecast a decline of 96 billion.
Thursday’s data compared with a draw of 57 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the preceding week and represented a decline of 718 billion from a year earlier and was also 296 bcf below the five-year average.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.532 trillion cubic feet, 31.9% lower than levels at this time a year ago and also 16.2% below the five-year average for this time of year.
After the report, natural gas for delivery in April on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.0 cents, or about 1.5%, to trade at $2.699 per million British thermal units by 10:33AM ET (14:33GMT).
Futures had been down 0.8 cents, or about 0.3%, at $2.731 prior to the release of the supply data.