The NYMEX May natural gas futures contract fell 9.1 cents Thursday to settle at $2.528/MMBtu, a new 33-month prompt-month low, as the market reacted to a larger-than-expected build in natural gas storage stocks. The last time a prompt-month NYMEX gas futures contract settled at a lower price was June 20, 2012, when it settled at $2.517/MMBtu. US natural gas in storage rose 15 Bcf to 1.476 Tcf for the week ended April 3, the US Energy Information Administration said Thursday, above consensus expectations of a build between 9 Bcf and 13 Bcf. At this time in 2014, the EIA reported an 8-Bcf withdrawal and the five-year average change is a pull of 2 Bcf, according to EIA data. Phil Flynn, Price Futures Group senior analyst, called the storage report “the final straw of the shoulder season.” “With warm [weather] in the Midwest and the shoulder season really in full […]