Gas rose as much as 8.5 percent after the Energy Department said U.S. stockpiles expanded by 67 billion cubic feet to 2.944 trillion. Analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg showed an increase of 75 billion and a survey of Bloomberg users predicted a gain of 74 billion. The five-year average stockpile gain for the week is 88 billion cubic feet.

“I am really impressed with this number,” said Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “A belief in the market in the past couple of months is that producers are finally cutting back, and certainly this kind of number on very weak weather-related demand is certainly going to buttress that opinion.”

Eoin Treacy's view Natural gas posted their largest rally in a year from the April low, closing the oversold condition relative to the 200-day MA. It had retraced part of the advance over the last few weeks and today's upward dynamic confirms the return of demand at a progressively higher level and lends additional credence to our contention that prices have bottomed. (Also see Comment of the Day yesterday and Tuesday).