Natural gas fell for a second day in New York on concern demand for the industrial fuel will be tepid this year as the recession lingers. Gas futures declined after Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said the recovery may be “slow.” U.S. gas supplies last week were 22 percent higher than the five-year average as factories and power plants trimmed purchases, an Energy Department report yesterday showed. “You’re seeing this whole thing now about the economy recovering slower than expected,” said Michael Rose, a director of trading at Angus Jackson Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “There needs to be demand, demand, demand for prices to go up.” Natural gas for June delivery fell 9.2 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $3.511 per million British thermal units at 9:35 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas has declined 38 percent this year. Industrial gas use may tumble 8 percent this year because of the recession, the Energy Department said on May 12. Overall U.S. consumption will probably contract 1.9 percent, outpacing reductions in output. Factory and power-plant consumption together accounts for 58 percent of U.S. gas use. Stockpiles rose 103 billion cubic feet last week to 2.116 trillion cubic feet, the department said yesterday. Gas inventories are heading toward a record high before the fall, when heating-fuel demand begins to siphon off supplies. Companies injected 2.178 trillion cubic feet of gas into storage 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, compared with the current record 3.545 trillion cubic feet in storage on Nov. 2, 2007.

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