Investing.com - Natural gas futures rose to the highest levels of the session on Thursday, after data showed that supplies in storage rose much less than forecast last week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 24 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended July 20, below forecasts for a gain of 36 bcf.
That compared with a build of 46 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 17 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 46 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.273 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 705 bcf, or around 23.6%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 557 bcf, or roughly 19.7%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures were up 1.7 cents, or around 0.6%, to $2.772 per million British thermal units (btu) by 10:33AM ET. Futures were at around $2.750 prior to the release of the supply data.