Friday, October 23, 2009

Natura Gas Stock Rise Meets Expectation

By DEBORAH JIAN LEE (AP) – 9 hours ago

NEW YORK — Natural gas stockpile levels rose again last week, 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 grew by 18 billion cubic feet to about 3.73 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 16.

Analysts had expected a boost between 16 billion and 20 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 13.1 percent above the five-year average of about 3.3 trillion cubic feet, and 11.9 percent above last year's storage level of about 3.34 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas rose by 7.8 cents to $5.178 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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