89 Bcf Build SeenDJ US NATURAL GAS INVENTORY SURVEY: 89 Bcf Build Seen
Oct 13, 2010
By Matt Day
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Analysts and traders expect government data scheduled for release Thursday to show another above-average build in natural gas inventories during autumn's seasonal lull in demand.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to report that 89 billion cubic feet of gas were added to storage during the week ended Oct. 8, according to the average prediction of 18 analysts and traders in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
The EIA is scheduled to release its storage data Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).
The survey's median result was 91 billion cubic feet, with a high estimate of a 98-bcf build and a low of a 66-bcf injection. The storage estimate is higher than last year's 60-bcf build in storage for the same week and the 64-bcf five-year average build for that week.
If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of this past Friday will total 3.588 trillion cubic feet, 7.3% above the five-year average and 3.2% below last year's level for the same week.
The last four weeks of storage builds have been above average, narrowing the gap between this year's storage level and 2009's record highs. The amount of U.S. gas in storage hit an all-time high of 3.837 tcf in November 2009 as weak demand from recession-hit commercial and industrial users and strong U.S. gas production boosted inventories.
The EIA's weekly storage page is https://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngs/ngs.html.
-By Matt Day, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4986; matt.day@dowjones.com
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