Natural gas stocks grow as expected

[March 26, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Natural gas stockpile levels grew last week as expected, the government said Thursday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states increased by 11 billion cubic feet to about 1.63 trillion cubic feet for the week ended March 19.

Analysts expected an increase of between 9 billion and 13 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 8 percent above the five-year average of about 1.51 trillion cubic feet, and 1.7 percent below last year's storage level of about 1.65 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas fell 11.9 cents to $3.986 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

[Associated Press; By CHRIS KAHN]

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