Natural gas reserves jump in line with forecasts

Natural gas stockpiles jumped last week, pushing reserves further above historical norms, the government 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 106 billion cubic feet to about 2.44 trillion cubic feet for the week ended June 5.

Analysts had expected a boost of between 106 billion and 111 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 22 percent above the five-year average of about 2.01 trillion cubic feet, and 30 percent above last year's storage level of about 1.88 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas rose 11.7 cents to $3.825 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.