Following a warm winter that sapped home-heating demand, U.S. natural-gas inventories have bulged to record springtime levels, and that has caused prices to plummet roughly 60 percent since their mid-December high. Many analysts anticipate a further swelling of inventories in the months ahead and say prices are susceptible to another 20 percent decline.

To the extent local utilities can buy and store cheaper fuel, "those are savings that go to the consumers," said Chris McGill of the American Gas Association, whose members deliver natural gas to some 56 million U.S. homes.

But the Natural Gas Supply Association, which represents companies that produce the fuel, warns there is no guarantee that the nation's supply cushion will look so comfortable by the end of summer.

If it is an unusually hot summer, association president Skip Horvath argues, homeowners will crank up their air conditioners, which suck up lots of gas-fired electricity. If there is a repeat of last summer's ferocious hurricane season, significant volumes of offshore natural-gas production could be lost.

Traders on the New York Mercantile Exchange seem equally nervous.

The price of natural gas to be purchased in February is almost $11 per 1,000 cubic feet - or more than 80 percent above the price of fuel deliverable in June.

The main reason for the plunge in front-month natural gas futures since December has been weekly Energy Department data showing steady increases in the volume of gas stored in underground facilities across the lower 48 states. On Thursday, the agency's latest report showed inventories rising to more than 2 trillion cubic feet, or 53 percent above the five-year average for this time of year.

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