The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 66 Bcf into storage for the week ending Sept. 18, comfortably below the low end of analyst estimates and reinforcing a morning rally for Nymex natural gas futures.

EIA storage sept 18

Ahead of the EIA report, the October contract was up 8.7 cents at $2.212/MMBtu. The prompt month jumped further to $2.263 when the data was released. By 11 a.m. ET, the October contract hovered at $2.211, up 8.6 cents from the previous day’s close.

Prior to the report, a Bloomberg survey found estimates ranging from 68 Bcf to 82 Bcf, with a median of 77 Bcf, while estimates in a Wall Street Journal poll ranged from 71 Bcf to 85 Bcf, with an average of 77 Bcf.

A Reuters poll showed estimates ranging from 68 Bcf to 96 Bcf, with a...