The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. natural gas stocks increased by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ending July 4. That compared with an expected increase of around 90 to 94 billion cubic feet anticipated by analysts. The total addition ends an eight-week run of triple-digit increases to the country’s natural gas stockpile.

Natural gas futures prices were trading down slightly in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $4.18 per million BTUs, and slipped further to $4.14 immediately following the report.

For the same week a year ago, stockpiles rose by 72 billion cubic feet, and the five-year average for the week is an increase of around 70 billion cubic feet. Stockpiles are about 24.4% below their levels of a year ago and about 27.6% below the five-year average.

Next week’s weather forecast calls for a warming trend over the southern and western United States. Somewhat cooler temperatures are expected in the Midwest and the Northeast. Demand for cooling is expected to be moderate to high this week.

The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled 2.02 trillion cubic feet, about 769 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.79 trillion cubic feet. Working gas in storage totaled 2.7 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago. Natural gas inventories are rising again, but remain well below the bottom of the five-year range.

Here is how stocks of the largest U.S. natural gas producers reacted to this latest report:

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, was down about 1.2% to $102.28, in a 52-week range of $84.79 to $104.61.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) also was down, about 1.8% at $28.78, in a 52-week range of $19.93 to $29.92.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was down about 1.47% to $114.85. The 52-week range is $70.78 to $118.89.

The United States Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) was down about 0.3%, at $22.92 in a 52-week range of $16.59 to $27.89.

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