Investing.com - Natural gas dropped to near six-month lows on Thursday after data showed that U.S. supplies rose more than expected last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August traded at $3.965 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 3.75%. The commodity hit a session high of $4.112 and a low of $3.957.
The August contract settled up 0.54% on Wednesday to end at $4.119 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.953 per million British thermal units, the low from Jan. 10, and resistance at $4.173, Monday's high.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended July 11 rose by 107 billion cubic feet, well above market expectations for an increase of 98 billion cubic feet.
The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 65 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.129 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 608 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 727 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.856 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
Natural gas prices have been under pressure in recent sessions after updated weather-forecasting models called for cooler temperatures to move over heavily-populated Midwest and Northeast regions in the coming days.
Cool snaps in the U.S. summertime send natural gas prices falling on concerns households will throttle back on their air conditioning and curb demand for the commodity.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in August were up 1.29% at $102.51 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery were down 0.22% at $2.8516 per gallon.