Natural gas futures firmed above $4 again on Thursday after the US government reported another sizable drawdown in domestic inventories. Natural gas prices have struggled this week, enduring a two-session selloff. Still, the energy commodity has had a solid start to the year on a declining storage surplus.

April natural gas futures advanced $0.089, or 2.25%, to $4.048 per million British thermal units (Btu). Natural gas is on track for a weekly loss of around 2%. However, it is poised for a February gain of 31%, lifting its year-to-date increase to 30%.

Energy bulls were ebullient after the Energy Information Administration reported a drawdown of 261 billion cubic feet for the week ending Feb. 21. This was roughly in line with market estimates and worse than the previous week’s drawdown of 196 billion cubic feet.

The United States has experienced 15 consecutive weeks of declining storage levels.

Falling stocks were broad-based, led by the South Central (-111 billion cubic feet) and the Midwest (-70 billion cubic feet).

In total, US natural gas supplies stood at 1.84 trillion cubic feet, down 561 billion cubic feet from the same time a year ago. They are also 236 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.078 trillion cubic feet.

Natural gas had been trying to fight off recent weather outlooks signaling warmer temperatures for North America.

Experts say that the latest EIA report likely quashed concerns surrounding storage levels.

In other energy commodities, April West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures surged $1.44, or 2.1%, to $70.03 per barrel. May Brent crude futures rose $1.24, or 1.72%, to $73.31 a barrel. April gasoline futures advanced $0.0351, or 1.62%, to $2.2277 per gallon. April heating oil futures climbed $0.0366, or 1.6%, to $2.3286 a gallon.