Natural gas futures treaded lightly throughout Thursday’s session as traders weighed a seasonally weak storage result against continued signs of a pullback among producers.

Following a three-day rally, the April Nymex gas futures contract ultimately settled at $1.860/MMBtu on Thursday, down 2.5 cents day/day.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 9.0 cents to $1.480.

Wood Mackenzie estimates showed production just shy of 102 Bcf/d. Output was still up about 2 Bcf/d from a year earlier but down nearly 3 Bcf/d from the prior 30-day average. The decline comes amid vows from some prominent exploration and production (E&P) companies to curtail activity and align supply/demand following a mostly mild winter.

NatGasWeather said the solid heating demand that arrived with a cold...