Investing.com - Natural gas futures were higher on Thursday, reaching their strongest levels of the session following the release of weekly storage data.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures jumped 9.4 cents, or around 3.3%, to $2.979 per million British thermal units (btu) by 10:32AM ET (1432GMT). Futures were at around $2.950 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 96 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended May 25, below forecasts for a gain of 100 bcf.
That compared with a build of 91 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 81 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 97 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.725 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 788 bcf, or around 31.3%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 500 bcf, or roughly 22.4%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
Natural gas futures fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday, as weather forecasting models continued to predict that milder temperatures will cover the eastern part of the United States by the second week of June.
That will likely limit early summer cooling demand for the fuel.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early summer cooling demand.