BLBG: Natural Gas Falls as Inventories Decline Less Than Forecast
Natural gas futures plunged to the lowest in more than six years after a government report showed a smaller-than-forecast decline in U.S. inventories.
Supplies dropped 24 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 13 to 1.996 trillion cubic feet, the Energy Department said. Analysts expected a decline of 50 billion. The recession has curbed fuel purchases from factories and power plants, which account for about 59 percent of demand.
Natural gas for March delivery fell 18.2 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $4.032 per million British thermal units at 10:35 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The heating and industrial fuel touched $4.001, the lowest since Nov. 15, 2002.
Inventories were 8.4 percent higher than the five-year average, up from a surplus of 1.2 percent in last week’s report. The average stockpile decline for the week over the past five years is 155 billion cubic feet.
