U.S. Natural-Gas Stockpiles Fell 2.4%, Analysts Say

U.S. natural-gas inventories probably fell 2.4 percent last week, according to a survey of analysts and traders by Bloomberg.

Working gas inventories fell 58 billion cubic feet during the week ended March 9 to 2.375 trillion cubic feet, according to the average estimate in the survey.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration will publish its weekly report on natural-gas inventories at 10:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern time Thursday.

The EIA will release the report on its Internet site at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/ngs/ngs.html

In the week ended March 2, inventories fell 80 billion cubic feet to 2.433 trillion cubic feet, compared with 1.694 trillion a year earlier and a five-year average of 1.641 trillion.

                         Latest Week's          Avg Daily        Latest Week's
Company                Estimated Change           Change        Implied Storage
C.H. Guernsey            -53 to     -51           -7.43           2,381
CanAccord Genuity        -60 to     -60           -8.57           2,373
Citi Futures Perspectiv  n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Citigroup Global Market  -60 to     -60           -8.57           2,373
ConocoPhillips           -60 to     -60           -8.57           2,373
Cormark Securities       -60 to     -60           -8.57           2,373
Credit Suisse            -60 to     -60           -8.57           2,373
Energy Overview          -52 to     -52           -7.43           2,381
Fellon-McCord            n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
FirstEnergy Capital      n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Gelber & Associates      -56 to     -56           -8.00           2,377
Hencorp                  -51 to     -51           -7.29           2,382
IAF Advisors             -61 to     -61           -8.71           2,372
ICAP Energy              -56 to     -56           -8.00           2,377
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank   -59 to     -59           -8.43           2,374
LCM Commodities          -59 to     -59           -8.43           2,374
Macquarie Bank Ltd.      -59 to     -59           -8.43           2,374
Noble Americas           -59 to     -59           -8.43           2,374
Prestige Economics       -54 to     -54           -7.71           2,379
Ritterbusch & Assoc.     -56 to     -56           -8.00           2,377
Societe Generale         -62 to     -62           -8.86           2,371
Strategic Energy & Econ  -57 to     -57           -8.14           2,376
Summit Energy            -63 to     -63           -9.00           2,370
Tradition Financial      n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Trajan Investment Mgmt   -50 to     -50           -7.14           2,383
Tuohy Brothers           -55 to     -55           -7.86           2,378
UBS                      -70 to     -60           -9.29           2,368
Wavelength CTA           n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Wells Fargo Securities   -58 to     -58           -8.29           2,375
Average                  -58 to     -57           -8.21           2,375