Natural-gas Prices Pare Gains As U.S. Supplies Fall Less Than Expected

Natural-gas futures pared some gains on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity fell 34 billion cubic feet for the week ended Dec. 11. Analysts polled by Platts expected a decline of between 38 billion cubic feet and 42 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 3.846 trillion cubic feet, up 541 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 322 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. January natural gas was at $1.818 per million British thermal units, up 2.8 cents, or 1.4%. Prices traded $1.833 before the supply data.