The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an on-target 35 Bcf injection into domestic storage facilities for the week ending Aug. 11, a surplus-trimming result that solicited only a muted response from natural gas futures traders.

Futures climbed early Thursday as traders awaited the latest government inventory report, paring losses recorded over the previous two sessions. In the immediate response to EIA’s 10:30 a.m. ET report, September Nymex prices pulled back a couple cents, trading in the $2.630/MMBtu neighborhood.

By 11 a.m. ET, the front month was trading around $2.646, up 5.4 cents day/day but off a penny or so versus the pre-report trade.

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