Natural gas futures trimmed early gains Thursday following the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, which outlined a larger-than-anticipated 36 Bcf withdrawal for the week ended March 22. 

Ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET release of the latest storage data, May New York Mercantile Exchange natural gas futures were trading 2.0 cents higher day/day at $1.738/MMBtu. After the print, the contract moved to about $1.742. By around 11 a.m. ET, it was trading less than a penny higher at $1.727, compared to Wednesday’s regular session close of $1.718.

The drawdown was above the 27 Bcf five-year average withdrawal but well below the 55 Bcf draw a year earlier. At a total working gas supply of 2,296 Bcf, stocks were 669 Bcf above the five-year average and 430 Bcf above...