The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 32 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended Aug. 25. The result exceeded market expectations but proved lean relative to prior years, leaving Nymex natural gas futures trading in a narrow range.

Ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET government report, the October futures contract was down 4.3 cents at $2.753/MMBtu. The prompt month fell further to around $2.743 when the EIA data was released. By 11 a.m. ET, however, it was up 5.2 cents at $2.848.

Front-month futures had jumped 13.4 cents on Wednesday.

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