The latest storage figure from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) came in on the high side of expectations Thursday, with the agency reporting a 15 Bcf injection into storage inventories for the week ending April 23.

EIA storage April 23

After three straight days in the green, natural gas futures retreated early in Thursday’s session and fell further following the EIA report. 

The Nymex June futures contract was trading about 1.5 cents lower day/day at $2.944/MMBtu ahead of the EIA’s 10:30 a.m. ET report. As the print crossed trading desks, the new prompt month slipped to $2.917 and by 11 a.m. was at $2.898, off 6.2 cents from Wednesday’s close.

On Wednesday, a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts showed injection estimates ranging from 6 Bcf to 19 Bcf, with a median build of 8...