The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 26 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended Nov. 12. The result was essentially on par with market expectations, and futures took the result in stride, holding onto most of the gains made prior to the print.

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Ahead of the EIA report, the December contract was up 16.5 cents at $4.981/MMBtu. The prompt month eased back to $4.930 shortly after the EIA data was released at 10:30 ET. Within another 30 minutes, however, it was at $4.974, up 15.8 cents from the prior day’s close.

While injections are relatively rare at this time of year, NatGasWeather noted that it “was warmer than normal over almost the entire U.S. besides portions of the West and Gulf coasts.” That in turn created mild...