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Natural Gas Rises on Warming Forecasts While Inventories Rose Last Week

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Natural gas prices rose early Friday on warming long-term forecasts while a day-prior storage report met expectations. Gas for June delivery was last seen up US$0.06 to US$2.95 per million British thermal units.

The rise comes as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service see all states with seasonal or warmer temperatures over its eight to 14 day forecast offering high cooling demand.

In its weekly report issued Thursday, the Energy Information Administration said U.S. inventories of the fuel rose by 85-billion cubic feet last week, near expectations and leaving stocks at 2.29-trillion cubic feet, 6.5% above the five-year average.

"After the storage report printed in line with expectations a slight adjustment to weather outlooks proved just enough for the market to firm and test the resistance just under $2.90," Gary Cunningham, Director of Market Research at Tradition Energy, wrote.

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