As traders and analysts continued to mull the implications of another unseasonably light January inventory pull, natural gas futures stumbled in early trading Friday. The expiring February Nymex contract was off 8.1 cents to $2.863/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET. March was down 3.6 cents to $2.812.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a lighter-than-average 91 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas storage facilities during the week ended Jan. 20. The print surpassed market expectations but still saw the year-on-five-year average surplus grow to 128 Bcf, or plus-4.9%.

Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage stood at 2,729 Bcf as of Jan. 20, according to EIA.

“On a weather-adjusted basis, we estimate the market was 3 Bcf/d oversupplied,...