US EIA releases natgas storage report after software glitch

May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which has seen numerous layoffs and retirements in recent months, said on Thursday it delayed the release of the natural gas weekly storage report due to a software problem.

The EIA released the report, which usually comes out at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Thursdays, at 2 p.m.

The delay was caused by a technical issue from a third-party software application, an EIA official said.

Another source told Reuters one of EIA's commercial cloud providers had a widespread technical outage. The source did not name the commercial cloud provider.

EIA, the U.S. government's energy statistics arm, is set to lose over 100 employees after the Trump administration's latest round of resignation offers, putting at risk some of the most closely watched energy reports globally, three sources told Reuters.

EIA publishes weekly, monthly and annual data on oil and gas output, crude and fuel inventories and price forecasts, all used by traders and energy companies as indicators of supply and demand. The reports often move global oil prices.

In the report, EIA said energy firms added 107 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended April 25.

That was in line with the 107-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll, and compares with an increase of 64 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average build of 58 bcf for this time of year. EIA/GAS GAS/POLL

The build returned the amount of gas in storage to near-normal levels for the first time since January. NGA/