Natural gas futures rebounded in early trading Thursday ahead of updated government inventory data expected to reveal a larger-than-average withdrawal following unseasonably cold temperatures last week.

Coming off a 30.5-cent sell-off in the previous session, the January Nymex contract was up 18.6 cents to $7.116/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

For the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, surveys show market expectations centering around a withdrawal in the low to mid 80s Bcf for the week ending Nov. 25. 

A Bloomberg survey found withdrawal estimates ranging from 72 Bcf to 121 Bcf, with a median 82 Bcf decline in stocks. A Reuters poll found estimates spanning from pulls of 72 Bcf to 92 Bcf, and a median of 84 Bcf. A Wall...