The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 57 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended Sept. 8. The result came in at the high end of expectations but well below historic averages, leaving the market to mull its implications.

Ahead of the 10:30 ET government inventory print, the October Nymex natural gas futures contract was up 9.4 cents at $2.774/MMBtu. The prompt month tapered some to around $2.744 a few minutes after the EIA data was released. By 11 a.m. ET, it was up 4.9 cents from the prior day to $2.729.

NGI modeled a 52 Bcf increase for Thursday’s EIA print. Estimates submitted to Reuters ranged from injections of 39 Bcf to 57 Bcf, with a median of 48 Bcf. Bloomberg’s poll generated a range of injections of 40 Bcf to...