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

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that natural gas in storage shrank by 194 billion cubic feet to 2.802 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Jan. 25.

Analysts expected a drop of 200 billion to 204 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The inventory level was 12.2 percent above the five-year average of 2.498 trillion cubic feet, and 6.7 percent below last year's level of 3.004 trillion cubic feet, according to the government data.

Natural gas fell 8 cents to $3.25 per 1,000 cubic feet in New York.