Natural gas slipped Thursday as a larger-than-expected supply increase put inventories on track to replenish by next winter. Natural gas for July delivery settled down 5.6 cents, or 1.2%, at $4.559 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Producers added 114 billion cubic feet of gas to storage in the week ended May 23, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The average forecast was for an addition of 110 bcf in a Wall Street Journal survey. Natural-gas inventories shrank significantly this past winter, as frigid weather across much of the country led to record demand for gas-fueled indoor heating. This week’s injection, the largest one-week gain since June 2009, puts stocks on pace to close the deficit by the coming winter. The number “caught everybody off guard a little bit,” said Frank Clements, co-owner of Meridian Energy Brokers Inc. Last […]