After weeks of big surprises on the natural gas storage front, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an on-target 20 Bcf injection into storage inventories for the week ending April 2. 

EIA storage april 2

The EIA figure was only a couple Bcf off market consensus, but it fell short of the year-ago 30 Bcf injection. The injection, however, was much higher than the five-year average build of 8 Bcf, according to EIA.

The reported injection failed to ignite much excitement along the Nymex natural gas futures strip. The May contract was trading nearly flat day/day at around $2.520/MMBtu early Thursday ahead of the EIA report, and barely slipped one-tenth of a cent after the print crossed trading desks. By 11 a.m. ET, the prompt month was trading a half-cent lower on the day at...