Investing.com - Natural gas futures erased gains on Thursday to move away from a two-week high after data showed that U.S. natural gas supplies rose more than expected last week.
Natural gas for delivery in November on the New York Mercantile Exchange rallied to an intraday peak of $2.576 per million British thermal units, the most since September 30, before turning lower to trade at $2.502 during U.S. morning hours, down 1.6 cents, or 0.64%. Prices were at around $2.574 prior to the release of the supply data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended October 9 rose by 100 billion cubic feet, above expectations for an increase of 93 billion.
That compared with builds of 95 billion cubic feet in the prior week, 105 billion cubic feet in the same week last year, while the five-year average change for the week is an increase of 87 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.733 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 447 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 168 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3.565 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
A day earlier, natural gas prices tacked on 2.0 cents, or 0.8%, as investors bet that chilly weather across the eastern U.S. will boost early-winter demand for the heating fuel.
Updated weather-forecasting models called for unusually cold temperatures across the eastern half of the U.S. through October 21.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in November lost 88 cents, or 1.89%, to trade at $45.76 a barrel, while heating oil for November delivery shed 0.67% to trade at $1.473 per gallon.