Natural-gas futures continue higher after the EIA’s weekly report on supplies

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Friday that U.S. natural-gas supplies in storage rose by 72 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 30. Analysts had called for a storage increase of 65 billion cubic feet on average, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights. However, the EIA report, which was delayed by a day this week due to Tuesday’s Fourth of July holiday, included revisions to figures tied to reclassifications of some natural gas in storage from base gas to working gas. Working gas is the volume of gas available in the market. The EIA’s reclassifications resulted an increase of 4 bcf in working gas stocks in the nonsalt South central region, so the implied flow for the week is an increase of 68 bcf to working gas stocks, the EIA said. Total working gas in storage for the latest week was at 2.877 trillion cubic feet, up 575 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 366 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. In Friday dealings, August natural gas
NGQ23,
+0.65%
traded at $2.65 per million British thermal units, up 4 cents, or 1.3%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.