By Paulo Trevisani
U.S. government data due Thursday is expected to show natural gas inventories increased last week, keeping national stockpiles relatively high and prices in check.
The Energy Information Administration is expected to report that gas in storage rose by 80.7 billion cubic feet during the week ended Oct. 27, according to the average forecast of 10 analysts, brokers and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
Estimates range from increases of 76 bcf to 88 bcf. The average forecast compares with a rise of 99 bcf for the same week last year and a five-year average increase of 57 bcf.
The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly natural gas storage data at 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday.
An 80.7-bcf increase would mean gas stockpiles totaled around 3.78 trillion cubic feet, which would be up about 8.5% from last year’s total at this time and a 5.8% surplus compared with the five-year average.
U.S. natural gas production this year has been ahead of national demand, which has been limited by a mild winter and slowing economic activity. The inventory surplus climbed to 24% above normal in the spring, before a hot summer boosted consumption, narrowing the surplus.
Natural gas futures were down 2% to $3.49/mmBtu.
Write to Paulo Trevisani at [email protected]
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