Natural gas futures fell for the first time in four days on speculation last week’s 22 percent rally was unjustified. Prices for the industrial and power-plant fuel had their biggest weekly gain in more than two years after economic reports indicated the recession was easing. The advance came as an Energy Department report signaled ample supplies of gas to meet U.S. demand this year. “There was a lot of excitement on the jobs report last week being better than expected and now some of the that has worn off,” said Phil Flynn, senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “The weakness in the stock market and oil market is holding back natural gas.” Natural gas for June delivery fell 4.4 cents, or 1 percent, to $4.267 per million British thermal units at 11:01 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have declined 24 percent this year. Crude oil for June delivery fell 55 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $58.08 a barrel in New York. U.S. gas supplies jumped 95 billion cubic feet to 1.918 trillion in the week ended May 1, a report from the Energy Department showed on May 7. Inventories were 23 percent higher than the five-year average for that time of year. Industrial consumption of gas will decline 7.4 percent this year as factories close and demand slumps for steel, chemicals and plastic, the Energy Department predicted in a report on April 14. Manufacturers accounted for 29 percent of demand in 2008. Gas Supplies “Fundamentally, there’s not much of a bullish case out there,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. With stockpiles at current levels, there will be sufficient gas in storage to meet U.S. demand this year, he said. Storage operators and utilities injected 2.178 trillion cubic feet between April and November 2008, according to the Energy Department. A similar rebuilding of inventories this year would put stockpiles near 3.8 trillion cubic feet by Oct. 31, 8 percent above the record 3.545 trillion cubic feet in storage on Nov. 2, 2007.

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