Analysts' Estimates For Tomorrow's EIA Natural Gas Storage Report - Big Drop Expected

DJ Analysts See 231-Billion-Cubic-Feet Drop in U.S. Natural Gas Inventories

   By Timothy Puko


  Analysts and traders expect government data scheduled for release Thursday to show natural gas inventories shrunk by
22% more than their average decline for this time of year.

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to report that storage levels fell by 231 billion cubic feet
of gas during the week ended Jan. 9, according to the average forecast of 17 analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall
Street Journal.

  The EIA is scheduled to release its storage data for the week on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EST.

  For the Jan. 9 week, the median estimate is for a drop of 231 bcf. Estimates range from a decline of 182 bcf to a
decline of 300 bcf.

  The estimate for Jan. 9 is less than the 268 bcf drained from storage for the same week last year and more than the
190-bcf five-year average drain for that week.

  If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of Jan. 9 totaled 2.9 trillion cubic feet, 11% above levels from a
year ago and 3.6% below the five-year average for the same week.


  Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  January 14, 2015 12:09 ET (17:09 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

011415 17:09 -- GMT
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