U.S. Natural Gas Stock Pile Grew Last Week

Natural gas stockpiles grew last week, although supplies were nearly 6 percent below year-ago levels, the government reported Thursday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states increased by 27 billion cubic feet to 3.012 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Aug. 13.

Reserves remained 7 percent above the five-year average of 2.816 trillion cubic feet, according to the report.

Analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., expected natural gas reserves to increase between 28 billion cubic feet and 32 billion cubic feet.

Natural gas prices rose 6.3 cents to $4.302 per 1,000 cubic feet in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.