EIA data showed US natural Gas inventories increased by 71Bcf last week, exceeding expectations and the seasonal norm. Elevated stock levels and muted demand pushed Henry Hub prices lower in early trading, ING's commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note.

Inventories remain 6% over 5-yr average

"EIA weekly Gas storage data shows that US Gas stocks rose by 71Bcf last week, keeping the total stockpiles above the five-year average. Ahead of the release, the market was expecting a build of around 68Bcf. This was well above the five-year average addition of 56Bcf for this time of the year."

"The bigger-than-average increase was largely due to warmer weather curbing demand. Total Gas stockpiles totalled 3.34Tcf as of 5 September, which is 6% above the five-year average. The front-month Henry Hub contract declined almost 1% to trade around US$2.9/MMBtu in the early trading session today."