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U.S. Natural Gas in Storage Grows

Thursday August 23

Energy Dept. Report Says U.S. Natural Gas in Storage Grew by 23 Billion Cubic Feet Last Week

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Natural gas in storage in the U.S. grew last week and is about 13 percent above the five-year average for this time of year, a government report said Thursday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states increased by 23 billion cubic feet to 2.93 trillion cubic feet for the week ending Aug. 17, compared with about 2.9 trillion cubic feet for the previous week.

The inventory level was above the five-year average of 2.59 trillion cubic feet in underground storage, and also above last year's storage level of 2.85 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

In morning trading, natural gas for September delivery rose 8.5 cents to $5.663 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.