The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that domestic natural-gas supplies fell by 21 billion cubic feet for the week ended Dec. 2. That compared with an average analyst forecast for a decline of 26 billion cubic feet, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Total working gas stocks in storage stand at 3.462 trillion cubic feet, down 51 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 58 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. Following the data, January natural gas NGF23 was up 13.7 cents, or 2.5%, at $5.086 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $5.906 before the supply data.
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