Natural Gas Reserves Rise More Than Expected

Natural gas stockpiles rose 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 grew by 83 billion cubic feet to about 1.912 trillion cubic feet for the week ended April 23.

Analysts expected an increase of 72 billion to 76 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 18.8 percent above the five-year average of about 1.61 trillion cubic feet, and 5.6 percent above last year's storage level of about 1.81 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas fell 28 cents to $4.068 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.