Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures extended losses in North American trade on Thursday, after data showed that natural gas supplies in storage in the U.S. rose more than expected last week.
Natural gas for delivery in October on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.083 cents, or 2.91%, to trade at $2.803 per million British thermal units by 14:33GMT, or 10:33AM ET.
Futures were at around $2.847 prior to the release of the supply data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 51 billion cubic feet in the week ended August 26, while analysts had forecast an increase of 41 billion.
That compared with an advance of 11 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 96 billion a year earlier and a five-year average of 67 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.401 trillion cubic feet, 7.5% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 10.9% above the five-year average for this time of year.
A day earlier, prices rose 0.06 cents, or 2.12%, as traders waited for the fresh weekly storage data.
Some market analysts said persistent heat late into the season could push power generators to continue burning gas.
Unless intense late-summer heat boosts demand from power plants, stockpiles could possibly test physical storage limits of 4.3 trillion cubic feet at the end of October.
Meanwhile, forecasts for warmer than normal temperatures across most parts of the continental U.S. in the days ahead provided support.
Updated weather forecasting models pointed to very warm late summer temperatures into mid-September, boosting demand expectations for the cooling fuel.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning.