After dropping sharply in the previous session, natural gas futures clawed back some of their recent losses in early trading Wednesday as analysts were on the lookout for additional gains in export demand. The October Nymex contract was up 4.9 cents to $2.449/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

AM markets

The October contract is coming off a steep 18.8-cent decline in Tuesday’s trading. The front month faced a proverbial “perfect storm” of bearish factors that contributed to the decline, according to analysts at EBW Analytics Group.

These included “an even more brutal sell-off in the oil market, technical factors that called for a test of support at the $2.36 marker,” and the possibility of an extended delay to the resumption of normal operations at the Cameron liquefied natural gas...