Despite a sizable inventory draw following December cold, expectations for mild January temperatures kept the pressure on natural gas futures in early trading Friday. Coming off a 12.6-cent sell-off in the previous session, the February Nymex contract was down another 8.4 cents to $4.475/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

With bears in control, natural gas prices continued to decline Thursday even as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a larger-than-expected 213 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas storage for the week ended Dec. 23, EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin observed.

Stockpiles ended the period at 3,112 Bcf, or 85 Bcf (minus 2.7%) below the five-year average, EIA data show.

“A rapid recovery in production further limits near-term bullish risks,”...