Natural gas futures tumbled toward the end of the trading week after the US government reported a smaller-than-expected build in domestic inventories. The energy commodity has struggled to stay above $2 as the bears have completely taken over the natural gas trade. Investors are now looking ahead to expectations for the summer.

May natural gas futures declined $0.078, or 3.57%, to $2.106 per million British thermal units (Btu) at 16:44 GMT on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas prices are poised for a weekly loss of about 7%, adding to their year-to-date decline of nearly 50%.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), domestic stockpiles of natural gas fell 47 billion cubic feet for the week ending March 24, up from the previous week’s drawdown of 72 billion cubic feet. This also came in below the market estimate of -54 billion cubic feet.

In total, US supplies of natural gas stood at 1.853 trillion cubic feet, up 442 billion cubic feet from the same time a year ago. They are also 321 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.532 trillion cubic feet.

Looking ahead to next week’s EIA storage report, economists are anticipating a withdrawal of 20 billion cubic feet as mild temperatures throughout the country weigh on heating demand days.

In addition, the latest weather data suggest that temperatures will be warming in most parts of the US in the first half of April. Therefore, weather-driven demand will maintain its downward trajectory.

In industry news, the Freeport LNG export facility in Texas is poised to achieve full processing power on Thursday. Market experts forecast that flows into the facility are expected to reach 2.1 billion cubic feet by the weekend.

In other energy commodities, May crude oil futures surged $1.17, or 1.6%, to $74.14 per barrel. June Brent crude futures rose $0.88, or 1.13%, to $78.47 a barrel. May gasoline futures edged up $0.01, or 0.4%, to $2.6456 a gallon. May heating oil futures were relatively flat at $2.57 per gallon.