The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday said natural gas storage for the week ended March 5 declined by 52 Bcf, a reduction that fell short of expectations. It marked the second straight substantial miss for analysts. 

EIA storage March 5

Ahead of the EIA report, the April Nymex natural gas contract was down 2.0 cents at $2.672/MMBtu. The prompt month dropped further to around $2.652 when the EIA data was released at 10:30 ET. Within another half hour, however, the April contract recovered ground to $2.687, off only a half-cent from the previous day’s close.

“The market reaction is interesting, as the dip was bought,” Bespoke Weather Services said. “Clearly, many feel this weakness is temporary, despite two big bearish numbers in a row, and data that is no better this...