The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 20 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended Aug. 27. The result proved bullish relative to expectations and sent Nymex natural gas futures higher.

EIA storage Aug 27

A few minutes ahead of the EIA print, the October contract was up 1.7 cents at $4.632/MMBtu. The prompt month jumped to around $4.685 when the EIA data was released at 10:30 ET, and within a half hour, it was firmly in the green, up 9.0 cents from the prior day’s close at $4.705.

The October contract had spiked 31 cents over the two previous trading days in the wake of production disruption imposed by Hurricane Ida and concerns about paltry inventories ahead of winter.

The latest build lifted inventories to 2,871 Bcf. Still, that was...