With the market preparing to digest the latest round of government inventory data, and awaiting more clarity from weather models on temperatures later this month, natural gas futures were close to unchanged in early trading Thursday. The January Nymex contract was down 0.1 cents to $2.441/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Estimates for this week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, have been pointing to a withdrawal in the 80s Bcf.

A Bloomberg survey of six analysts had withdrawal estimates ranging from 84 Bcf to 99 Bcf, with a median draw of 86 Bcf. A Wall Street Journal poll of 14 market participants showed a withdrawal as low as 82 Bcf, with an 89 Bcf average. The Reuters survey produced even lower estimates, down to a draw of...