Natural gas futures prices rebounded Thursday as the government’s weekly inventory report proved bullish, and both weather forecasts and demand for U.S. exports remained favorable.

Storage Report

The May Nymex contract settled at $2.658/MMBtu, up 4.0 cents day/day. June gained 3.7 cents to $2.730.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. rose 4.5 cents to $2.565, continuing a weeklong rally amid chilly conditions and seasonally strong heating demand in the eastern half of the country.

The prompt month ticked down by a tenth of a cent on Wednesday, ending a five-day winning streak. But a well-received U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage result for the week ended April 9 reopened the momentum door for futures.

EIA reported an injection of 61 Bcf natural gas into storage. That was...