Natural gas reserve decreases in line with analyst expectations
By Deborah Jian Lee, APThursday, January 7, 2010
Natural gas stocks show seasonal decline
NEW YORK — Natural gas stockpile levels fell last week as expected, the government said Thursday.
The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states dropped by 153 billion cubic feet to about 3.12 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Jan. 1.
Analysts had expected a draw of between 151 billion and 155 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
The inventory level was 11.3 percent above the five-year average of about 2.81 trillion cubic feet, and 10.1 percent above last year’s storage level of about 2.84 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.
Natural gas fell by 4.3 cents to $5.966 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
