Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures were higher on Thursday, after data showed that natural gas supplies in storage in the U.S. fell more than expected last week.
Natural gas for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.3 cents, or around 1.3%, to $2.625 per million British thermal units by 10:35AM ET (15:35GMT).
The more actively-traded April contract jumped 5.4 cents, or 2%, to $2.756 from $2.724 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. declined by 89 billion cubic feet in the week ended February 17, above market expectations for a drop of 85 billion cubic feet.
That compared with a withdrawal of 114 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 117 billion a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 158 billion cubic feet.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.356 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2.5% lower than levels at this time a year ago and 6.6% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Prices of the heating fuel are down a whopping 28% so far this year as forecasts for warm winter weather weighed on heating demand expectations.
Futures touched the lowest level in around six months earlier this week as forecasts called for mostly warmer-than-normal weather in key regions across the U.S. for the rest of the winter.
Based on data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, this year’s extremely warm winter has pushed heating demand for natural gas to nearly 20% below average.
About half of U.S. homes use natural gas for heating.