Following a heavy sell-off in the previous session, natural gas futures treaded water in early trading Friday as the market continued to digest the price implications of an unexpectedly plump springtime injection.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The May Nymex contract was trading at $1.766/MMBtu, up 0.2 cents, as of 8:40 a.m. ET. June was up 0.2 cents to $2.002.

Prices were already heading lower Thursday when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 24 Bcf injection into Lower 48 storage for the week ending April 5. The result appeared to validate bearish views around the sizable storage surplus the market is carrying into the start of the injection season.

Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage stood at 2,283 Bcf as of April 5, which is 633 Bcf higher than the five-year...