Natural gas storage levels jump more than expected

Natural gas inventory levels jumped more than expected last week, 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 114 billion cubic feet to about 2.56 trillion cubic feet for the week ended June 12.

Analysts had expected a boost of between 107 billion and 112 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 23 percent above the five-year average of about 2.09 trillion cubic feet, and 32 percent above last year's storage level of about 1.94 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas is not only a key fuel for cooking and other domestic uses, but also a main ingredient needed to make thousands of industrial and commercial products, including plastics and paints.

As the recession has dragged on and consumers have spent less money, demand for these products _ and subsequently the need for natural gas _ has waned.

Natural gas fell 9.6 cents to $4.328 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.