The NYMEX July natural gas futures contract settled 0.8 cent lower at $2.626/MMBtu Thursday following a US Energy Information Administration storage report that showed a build well above expectations. US natural gas in storage rose 132 Bcf to 2.233 Tcf in the week that ended May 29, the EIA said in its weekly storage report, compared with analysts’ consensus expectations of a 118-122 Bcf injection. “The 132 Bcf injection was the largest injection since 2003 and the second largest injection ever reported,” Kent Bayazitoglu, head of energy market analytics at Gelber & Associates, said in daily commentary. The reason for the much larger-than-expected injection, Bayazitoglu said, was mild weather that suppressed demand during the week ended May 29 and continued strong growth in supply. In other words, supply continues to outstrip demand. Article continues below… Platts Natural Gas Alert provides global coverage of the major natural gas and LNG […]