Natural gas futures were hovering close to even early Wednesday ahead of the release of fresh government inventory data expected to show the season’s first storage withdrawal. The December Nymex contract was up 3.7 cents to $5.004/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

NGI’s machine learning model is calling for a 26 Bcf withdrawal from Lower 48 inventories for the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for an early release at noon ET ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

A Reuters poll found estimates that ranged from withdrawals of 16 Bcf to 31 Bcf, with a median of 22 Bcf. Eight estimates submitted to Bloomberg as of early Wednesday produced a median withdrawal estimate of 24 Bcf and a range from 11 Bcf to 29 Bcf. The Wall Street Journal’s poll...