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Natural gas prices dropped on Thursday after official U.S. data revealed that the country's stockpiles rose more than expected last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October traded at USD3.515 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 1.87%. The October contract settled up 0.25% at USD3.582 per million British thermal units on Wednesday.
The commodity hit a session low of USD3.511 and a high of USD3.648.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 23 rose by 67 billion cubic feet, above market expectations for an increase of 63 billion cubic feet.
Inventories increased by 64 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a build of 66 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.130 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 235 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 45 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3.085 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 107 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, following net injections of 49 billion cubic feet.
Stocks in the Producing Region were 95 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 978 billion cubic feet after a net injection of 16 billion cubic feet.
Also pressuring prices lower were updated weather forecasts calling for below-normal temperatures in parts of the heavily populated northeastern U.S.
Demand for natural gas tends to wane at the country's thermal power plants as temperatures fall, as homes and businesses throttle back on their air conditioners.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in October were down 0.88% and trading at USD109.13 a barrel, while heating oil for October delivery were down 0.38% and trading at USD3.1993 per gallon.
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