Big EIA Storage Withdrawal Expected In Tomorrow's EIA Report

DJ Analysts See Drop of 242 Billion Cubic Feet in U.S. Natural Gas Inventories


  By Timothy Puko


  Analysts and traders expect government data scheduled for release Thursday to show natural gas inventories shrank by
by 242 billion cubic feet, with the drop being 85% greater than the average decline for this time of year.

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to report that storage levels fell by 242 billion cubic feet
of gas during the week ended Feb. 20, according to the average forecast of 19 analysts and brokers 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 Feb. 20 week, the median estimate is for a drop of 241 bcf. Estimates range from a decline of 230 bcf to a
decline of 257 bcf.

  The estimate for Feb. 20 is more than the 117 bcf drained from storage for the same week last year and more than the
131-bcf five-year average drain for that week.

  If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of Feb. 20 totaled 1.9 trillion cubic feet, 41% above levels from
a year ago and 2.7% 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

  February 25, 2015 13:52 ET (18:52 GMT)

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

022515 18:52 -- GMT
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