--Natural gas slides for fifth straight session --EIA seen reporting 69-bcf inventory build --Inventory overhang vs last year remains massive (Adds next-day prices, in the 12th paragraph.) By Dan Strumpf Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural-gas futures extended their losses for the fifth straight session Thursday ahead of the government's closely watched report on U.S. gas stockpiles. Although the Energy Information Administration is expected to report another week of relatively modest additions to storage, traders continue to focus on the massive storage overhang already in stockpiles. Meanwhile, recent run-up in prices in May to as high as $2.742 has likely eroded some measure of natural-gas demand from power generators, analysts said. "This month's 40% spike in gas prices is widely assumed to have curtailed the aggressive coal-to-gas switching process that drove the bulk of this month's price advance up until last week," said Jim Ritterbusch, head of the trading-advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates, in a research report. Natural gas for July delivery recently fell 2.1 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.397 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Front-month futures have fallen 12% over the last five sessions. The EIA is expected to report that natural-gas inventories rose 69 billion cubic feet during the week ended May 25, according to a survey of analysts and traders by Dow Jones Newswires. The estimate is below the 89-bcf injection for the same week last year and under the 100-bcf five-year average injection for the week, amid a pop in natural-gas demand by power generators, many of which have switched to the cheaper fuel in lieu of coal. Still, inventories remain at their highest level ever for this time of year following one of the mildest winters on record, which squelched demand for natural gas used for heating. If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of last week will total 2.813 trillion cubic feet, a level not reached in the 2011 injection season until early August. Inventories would be 35% above both the five-year average and last year's level for the week. The EIA's report is due at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Natural gas for next-day delivery at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana recently traded at $2.3475/MMBtu, according to IntercontinentalExchange, compared with Wednesday's average of $2.3931/MMBtu. Natural gas for next-day delivery at Transcontinental Zone 6 in New York traded at $2.43/MMBtu, down from $2.5882/MMBtu. -By Dan Strumpf, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2818; dan.strumpf@dowjones.com.

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