Natural gas futures probed higher ahead of the latest round of government inventory data early Thursday, with traders seemingly looking past plump shoulder season injections to the prospect of tightening balances once summer heat arrives.

The June Nymex contract was up 5.2 cents to $2.417/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

Surveys suggest a triple-digit injection is on tap for this week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled to hit the market at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Injection estimates submitted to Reuters ranged from 98 Bcf to 116 Bcf, with a median of 108 Bcf. Bloomberg’s poll found the same range and landed at a median of 109 Bcf. The Wall Street Journal’s survey produced a narrower span of estimates and an average of 108 Bcf.

NGI modeled a 110...