With mild temperatures and strong production levels expected to continue adding to the inventory surplus in the weeks ahead, natural gas futures remained under pressure in early trading Friday.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The expiring June Nymex contract was down 6.2 cents to $2.245/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET. July was off 6.5 cents to $2.411.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a 96 Bcf injection into U.S. natural gas stocks for the week ending May 19, on the tighter side of estimates and in line with the five-year average injection.

Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage stood at 2,336 Bcf as of May 19, 340 Bcf (plus 17.0%) higher than the five-year average, according to EIA.

The latest print implies the market was roughly 2.8 Bcf/d tighter than the prior...