DOE says natural gas supplies rose last week

WASHINGTON - Natural gas in storage in the U.S. rose last week but is 0.9 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, a government report 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 rose by 84 billion cubic feet to nearly 2.4 trillion cubic feet for the week ending July 18.

The inventory level was slightly below the five-year average of about 2.42 trillion cubic feet, and well below last year's storage level of more than 2.74 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

In morning trading, natural gas for August delivery fell more than 39 cents to about $9.40 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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