Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures initially 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.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 97 billion cubic feet in the week ended September 15, while analysts had forecast an increase of just 91 billion.
Natural gas for delivery in October on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 10.9 cents, or about 3.5%, to trade at $2.985 per million British thermal units by 10:32AM ET (14:32GMT).
Futures had been falling 6.6 cents, or around 2.1%, at $3.029 prior to the release of the supply data.
That compared with a build of 91 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the preceding week and represented a decline of 136 billion from a year earlier but was 67 bcf above the five-year average.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.3408 trillion cubic feet, 3.8% lower than levels at this time a year ago and 2.0% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Natural gas prices look set to remain on the back foot in the weeks ahead as traders react to the reality that higher summer demand for the commodity is coming to an end.
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.
But with autumn due to start on September 22, power burns to feed air conditioning demand have probably peaked for now, market analysts said.