The nation's natural gas supplies rose last week, the government said Thursday.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas in storage grew by 47 billion cubic feet to 3.308 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Aug. 17.

Analysts expected a rise of 36 billion to 40 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 12.1 percent above the five-year average of 2.951 trillion cubic feet, and 14.7 percent above last year's level of 2.885 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas fell 10 cents to $2.72 per 1,000 cubic feet in New York.