Continued meager weather-driven demand expectations kept the pressure on natural gas futures in early trading Thursday as the market awaited the latest round of weekly government inventory data. The January Nymex contract was off 9.8 cents to $4.160/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Estimates ahead of the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, point to withdrawal in the upper 50s Bcf.

A Reuters poll of 16 analysts produced withdrawal estimates from 34 Bcf to 64 Bcf, with a median draw of 58 Bcf. The median of nine estimates submitted to Bloomberg as of early Thursday was a 58 Bcf withdrawal, with withdrawal predictions ranging from 49 Bcf to 63 Bcf. NGI modeled a 58 Bcf pull for the period, which covers net changes to U.S. gas...