Natural gas prices rose to the highest close since February 26th amid fears that supply won’t rebound fast enough from their lowest levels in 11 years. The May contract settled up 14.8 cents to close at $4.795 per MMBtu. Inventories have just recently started to climb, but the first two injections were below the market’s expectations. Based upon the most recent storage report, levels are currently 43% below last year and 48% below the five-year average. Analysts said producers would need to add an additional 20 billion to 35 billion cubic feet a week above the average for six months to ensure power plants have enough gas on hand to meet another frigid winter.
