Natural Gas Futures Called Slightly Lower as Early Injection Confirms Lack of Weather

With an unusually early storage injection seemingly confirming market assumptions around balances following a stretch of extremely mild weather, natural gas futures were treading water early Friday.

The April Nymex contract was off 0.6 cents to $1.677/MMBtu as of 8:40 a.m. ET. May was trading at $1.828, off 0.3 cents.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a 7 Bcf injection into Lower 48 storage for the week ended March 15. Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage exited the period at 2,332 Bcf, or 678 Bcf higher than the five-year average, EIA data show.

The unseasonably early net build kept the bearish pressure on already discounted natural gas futures.

“Any time there is a storage injection during withdrawal season it is an...