U.S. Natural Gas Supplies Shrank Last Week

NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's natural gas supplies fell last week, the government said Thursday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas in storage declined by 73 billion cubic feet to 3.804 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 30.

Analysts expected a drop of 64 billion to 68 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill (SPGI -0.88%).

The inventory level was 4.6 percent above the five-year average of 3.636 trillion cubic feet, and 0.9 percent below last year's level of 3.837 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas futures fell 5 cents to $3.65 per 1,000 cubic feet in New York.