: EIA reports a weekly decline of 81 billion cubic feet in U.S. natural-gas supplies

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that domestic natural-gas supplies fell by 81 billion cubic feet for the week ended Feb. 24. On average, analysts forecast a decline of 79 billion cubic feet, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Total working gas stocks in storage for the latest week was at 2.114 trillion cubic feet, up 451 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 342 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. Following the data, April natural gas NGJ23 was down 1.8 cents, or 0.6%, at $2.793 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $2.817 before the supply data.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.