Natural gas futures eased lower early Thursday as traders prepared to digest another surplus-padding result from the latest government inventory data, and as the weather outlook continued to offer little encouragement for bulls.

The April Nymex contract was off 2.3 cents to $1.862/MMBtu as of 8:48 a.m. ET. May was down 2.1 cents to $2.031.

Surveys ahead of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 10:30 a.m. ET storage report show market expectations centered around a withdrawal in the upper 80s Bcf for the week ended Feb. 23.

Estimates submitted to Reuters ranged from withdrawals of 77 Bcf to 95 Bcf, producing a median 88 Bcf pull. Responses to a Bloomberg survey ranged from withdrawals of 79 Bcf to 95 Bcf, with a median 87 Bcf withdrawal estimate.

NGI modeled...