Natural gas stockpiles up less than expected

Natural gas stockpiles rose less than expected last week, though storage levels remain far 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 94 billion cubic feet to about 2.65 trillion cubic feet for the week ended June 19.

Analysts had expected a boost of between 96 billion and 100 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 2.17 trillion cubic feet, and 31 percent above last year's storage level of about 2.02 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas rose 7.7 cents to $3.983 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.