As overnight modeling weakened heat expectations for key markets heading into early June, natural gas futures pulled back early Thursday ahead of the latest government inventory report. The June Nymex contract was down 26.9 cents to $8.099/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET. July was off 26.7 cents to $8.188.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

For the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, major surveys have been pointing to a build in the high 80s Bcf.

Estimates submitted to Bloomberg ranged from 83 Bcf to 93 Bcf, with a median build of 89 Bcf. Results of Reuters’ poll spanned estimated increases of 80 Bcf to 98 Bcf, with a median of 88 Bcf.

A print in line with surveys would also roughly align with historical norms. The five-year average injection for the...