DOE says natural gas supplies rose last week

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural-gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 90 billion cubic feet to about 2.21 trillion cubic feet for the week ending July 4.

The inventory level was slightly below the five-year average of about 2.28 trillion cubic feet, and well below last year's storage level of about 2.6 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

In morning trading, natural gas for August delivery rose about 3 cents to $12.04 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange.