As analysts continued to digest the implications of the latest government inventory report, natural gas futures early Friday pared some of their recent gains. 

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The October Nymex contract, set to expire early next week, was down 4.1 cents to $2.207/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET. November was off 5.8 cents to $2.841.

Natural gas rallied on Thursday as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an injection of 66 Bcf into storage for the week ending Sept. 1, a figure that seemed to allay concerns over limited remaining injection capacity in the final weeks before winter weather.

The build compared to a 97 Bcf injection recorded for the year-ago period and a previous five-year average build of 80 Bcf. The print also came in well below the 89 Bcf injection reported...