Natural gas futures clawed back some of their recent losses early Thursday as traders looked ahead to the latest round of government inventory data, expected to modestly trim the current Lower 48 storage surplus.

Coming off consecutive negative sessions, the September Nymex contract was up 4.5 cents to $2.637/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET. October was up 5.0 cents to $2.776.

Estimates suggest the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 10:30 a.m. ET storage report will reveal a slightly leaner-than-average injection into domestic storage for the week ending Aug. 11.

A Reuters survey showed an average injection estimate of 34 Bcf, slightly tighter than the 41 Bcf five-year average build. For the year-earlier period, EIA recorded a 21 Bcf injection.

Fourteen...