Natural gas futures retreated in early trading Thursday as the market looked ahead to a potentially larger-than-average injection in the latest weekly government inventory report. The October Nymex contract was down 9.6 cents to $7.683/MMBtu as of around 8:45 a.m. ET.

Following an up-and-down session Wednesday as markets digested news of Russia’s plans to call up reserves to support its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, natural gas prices could be in for more volatility as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) rolls out its latest storage report, according to NatGasWeather.

“Volatility has been extreme the past few weeks, and we expect this will continue, aided by today’s EIA storage report,” the firm said.

Major surveys show expectations clustering around a...