U.S. Natural-Gas Stockpiles Rose 2.1%, Analysts Say

U.S. natural-gas inventories probably rose 2.1 percent last week, according to a survey of analysts and traders by Bloomberg.

Working gas inventories rose 49 billion cubic feet during the week ended March 23 to 2.429 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 16, inventories rose 11 billion cubic feet to 2.380 trillion cubic feet, compared with 1.614 trillion a year earlier and a five-year average of 1.545 trillion.

                         Latest Week's          Avg Daily        Latest Week's
Company                Estimated Change           Change        Implied Storage
C.H. Guernsey             43 to      50            6.64           2,427
CanAccord Genuity         46 to      46            6.57           2,426
Citi Futures Perspectiv   49 to      49            7.00           2,429
Citigroup Global Market   49 to      49            7.00           2,429
ConocoPhillips            54 to      54            7.71           2,434
Cormark Securities        50 to      50            7.14           2,430
Credit Suisse             46 to      46            6.57           2,426
Energy Overview           40 to      40            5.71           2,420
Fellon-McCord             45 to      45            6.43           2,425
FirstEnergy Capital       53 to      53            7.57           2,433
Gelber & Associates       56 to      56            8.00           2,436
Hencorp                  n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
IAF Advisors              48 to      48            6.86           2,428
ICAP Energy               48 to      48            6.86           2,428
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank    51 to      51            7.29           2,431
LCM Commodities           44 to      44            6.29           2,424
Macquarie Bank Ltd.       45 to      45            6.43           2,425
Noble Americas            50 to      50            7.14           2,430
Prestige Economics        57 to      57            8.14           2,437
Ritterbusch & Assoc.      47 to      47            6.71           2,427
Societe Generale          45 to      45            6.43           2,425
Strategic Energy & Econ   50 to      50            7.14           2,430
Summit Energy             42 to      42            6.00           2,422
Tradition Financial      n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Trajan Investment Mgmt    45 to      45            6.43           2,425
Tuohy Brothers            70 to      70           10.00           2,450
UBS                       40 to      50            6.43           2,425
Wavelength CTA           n.a.     n.a.              n.a.             n.a.
Wells Fargo Securities    50 to      50            7.14           2,430
Average                   49 to      49            7.00           2,429