Natural gas futures were trading just shy of even early Friday as market participants continued to assess the implications of a bullish surprise from the latest government inventory data. The June Nymex contract was off 0.9 cents to $2.583/MMBtu at around 8:30 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The front month rallied 22.7 cents on Thursday, sparked by a lighter-than-expected 99 Bcf injection in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly storage report. Surveys had pointed to a build in the triple digits.

Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage stood at 2,240 Bcf as of May 12, or 340 Bcf (plus 17.9%) above the five-year average, according to EIA.

Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) pointed to production impacts from the wildfires in Alberta as a key factor...