Natural gas prices surged to their biggest daily gains in seven months after new data showed a historically small addition to stockpiles last week, easing fears of a glut. The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday said stockpiles grew by 17 billion cubic feet during the week ended Friday, the smallest increase for a summer week since 2006. Analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected the agency to report that stockpiles grew by 27 billion cubic feet. Contracts for September delivery settled up 21.3 cents, or 8%, at $2.873 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas prices haven’t gained that much, by percentage, in one day since December. “It’s just that hot,” said Teri Viswanath, managing director, natural gas, at PIRA in New York. Higher temperatures in the heavily populated areas of the U.S. have increased demand for natural gas to […]