The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 55 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended July 9. The result was above most analyst expectations and sent natural gas futures lower initially, though the prompt month quickly rebounded.

EIA storage july 9

Ahead of the EIA report, the August contract was up 2.2 cents at $3.682/MMBtu. The prompt month, though, fell nearly 3.0 cents into the red to around $3.632 when the data was released at 10:30 ET. Within another half hour, however, it bounced back and was up two-tenths of a cent from the prior day’s close to $3.662.

“It was hotter than normal over the western and northern U.S., while warm to very warm, unsettled and humid over the southern and eastern U.S.” during the latest EIA report period,...