Investing.com -- U.S. natural gas inventories rose by 99 billion cubic feet, or bcf, last week, the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, said Thursday, announcing a smaller-than-expected build that could help bolster some upside in an oversupplied market that needs to see less stockpile increases and more demand.
The build in gas storage for the week ended May 12 compares with the 78-bcf increase from the previous week. Industry analysts tracked by Investing.com had, however, forecast a 108-bcf build.
The latest build pushed up total gas stored in underground caverns in the United States to 2.24 trillion cubic feet, or tcf. That was 30.3% higher from the year-ago level of 1.9 tcf and 17.9% above the five-year average of 1.9 tcf.
The most-active June gas contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Henry Hub was up 12.5 cents, or more than 5%, to $2.49 per mmBtu, or million metric British thermal units, after the release of Thursday’s inventory data. It earlier hit $2.502, its highest since April 28.