Natural gas futures were pushing higher at the front of the curve through midday trading Thursday after the latest government-reported inventory build landed on the leaner side of market expectations.

Here’s the latest:

  • June Nymex futures up 10.8 cents to $2.295/MMBtu as of 2:13 p.m. ET
  • Reported 79 Bcf storage build from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) seen indicating tight underlying balances

“Compared to degree days and normal seasonality, this week’s report is 3.7 Bcf/d tight versus the prior five-year average,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Eric McGuire said. “This is a tightening of 4.8 Bcf/d week/week. The previous five weeks have averaged 0.8 Bcf/d loose.”

Despite the bullish post-report response from the market, the surplus versus the five-year...