With a larger-than-normal inventory build in the offing, and with models disagreeing on the intensity of cold expected later this month, natural gas futures reversed lower in early trading Thursday.

NGI-Storage-Snap-20221028

In keeping with the up-and-down nature of recent price action, the December Nymex contract, coming off a 55.4-cent rally in the previous session, was off 23.7 cents to $6.031/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

Predictions point to a potential triple-digit injection, much larger than historical norms, from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 10:30 a.m. ET storage report. The report covers net changes to Lower 48 stocks during the week ended Oct. 28.

Estimates submitted to Bloomberg showed injection expectations ranging from 87 Bcf to 109 Bcf, with a median prediction of 102...