After rallying 45 percent over the course of several weeks, the natural gas rally may finally be losing steam.
Natural gas prices fell after the latest inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration. The EIA said that operators injected 77 bcf into storage last week, within the range of analyst expectations between 74 bcf and 78 bcf.
However, the injection was once again notably below the build a year ago of 105 bcf and the five-year average build of 94 bcf.
In turn, the inventory surplus continued to decline. At 2744 bcf, inventories are now 720 bcf and 773 bcf above the year-ago and five-year average levels, respectively (calculated using a slightly different methodology than the EIA). That's down from recent highs near 900 bcf.
