Natural gas futures continued to rally in early trading Thursday as the market anticipated a potentially lighter-than-average build from the latest government inventory report. The October Nymex contract was up 12.2 cents to $2.247/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

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Predictions ahead of this week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, have been pointing to a lighter injection than last week’s hefty 89 Bcf build. 

A Bloomberg survey found estimates ranging from 68 Bcf to 82 Bcf, with a median of 77 Bcf, while estimates in a Wall Street Journal poll ranged from 71 Bcf to 85 Bcf, with an average of 77 Bcf. A Reuters poll of 13 analysts showed estimates ranging from 68 Bcf to 96 Bcf, with a median of 76 Bcf. NGI projected an injection...