Awaiting a catalyst to break natural gas futures out of their recent range, traders looked ahead to the latest round of government storage data early Thursday as prices pulled back slightly. The June Nymex contract was down 2.1 cents to $2.948/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Prediction for this week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, show expectations clustered around a build in the mid-70s Bcf.

Estimates submitted to Bloomberg as of Wednesday showed a median 73 Bcf injection expected from this week’s report, which reflects inventory changes for the week ended May 7. Predictions ranged from an injection of 68 Bcf up to 92 Bcf. Reuters polled 16 analysts, whose estimates ranged from an injection of 68 Bcf to 82 Bcf, with a...