With maintenance weighing on export demand, natural gas futures retreated in early trading ahead of the release of updated government inventory data Thursday. The October Nymex contract was off 3.5 cents to $2.698/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

The latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, is poised to extend a long streak of deficit-shrinking injections. Amid robust cooling demand, the past 10 reported weekly builds have lagged the five-year average injection rate, EIA data show.

For the latest print, market expectations are for yet another lighter-than-average injection in the mid-60s Bcf, according to pre-report surveys.

Estimates submitted to Reuters spanned injections of 58 Bcf to 85 Bcf, with a median of 66 Bcf. A...