Natural-gas futures trade lower as EIA reports a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. supplies

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that domestic natural-gas supplies rose by 82 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 24. That compared to an average forecast for an increase of 74 billion cubic feet from analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Total working gas stocks in storage stand at 2.251 trillion cubic feet, down 296 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 322 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. Following the data, August natural gas was down 25.5 cents, or 3.9%, at $6.243 per million British thermal units. Prices traded at $6.432 before the supply data.

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