Natural-gas Prices Pare Losses As U.S. Supplies Decline By 48 Billion Cubic Feet

Natural-gas futures pared some earlier losses on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity declined by 48 billion cubic feet for the week ended Feb. 26. That was more than than the fall of between 37 billion and 41 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.536 trillion cubic feet, up 794 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 666 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas was at $1.659 per million British thermal units, down 1.9 cents, or 1.1%. Prices traded $1.648 before the supply data.