Natural gas prices sharply added to gains on Thursday after stockpiles shrank by double what analysts expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said storage levels fell by 18 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 27. That is 9 bcf more than the 9-bcf consensus average of 18 forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The EIA update is widely considered one of the best measures of supply and demand. This draw would indicate lower supply or larger demand than expected. It is nearly on par with the 22-bcf five-year average for the week, which may be considered a surprise bullish for prices, which have been capped by near-record supply. The front-month May contract recently traded up 6.8 cents, or 2.6%, at $2.673 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had been trading near their lows from […]