In one fell swoop, September natural gas futures erased most of the 25-cent price increase they had amassed over the past three days after a bullish government inventory report. The prompt month Nymex gas futures contract settled Thursday at $2.763/MMBtu, down 19.6 cents day/day.

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Spot gas prices also softened, sending NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. falling 10.5 cents to $2.725.

After closing in on $3.00 amid a dip in production and robust power generation demand, Thursday’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) report knocked futures back down. The EIA said storage inventories for the week ending Aug. 4 rose by a larger-than-expected 29 Bcf. Nymex futures were already lower day/day when the EIA report was published, but they fell further as the print crossed trading...