The 44 Bcf injection into underground natural gas storage for the week ended April 8 was within the range of industry expectations but still dwarfed the five-year average injection of 1 Bcf and last year’s 16 Bcf contribution.

After hitting a pre-storage report release low of $6.89, May natural gas futures climbed 7 cents, only to drop again to the $6.90 level once the report hit the street. However, buyers were drawn in after the contract hit the $6.89-6.90 support level a second time. As of noon EDT, the prompt month was back above the psychological $7 mark trading at $7.065. May natural gas ended up seesawing for the remainder of the session before settling at $7.069, up 9.1 cents on the day.

“It looks like we got the storage number we were looking for, which was right inline with expectations,” said Tom Saal of Commercial Brokerage Corp. in Miami. “We sold off a little bit as a result, making a new low for the move, and now we are kind of retracing backwards.”

Saal noted that hitting off of that $6.89 support likely gave futures a little burst higher. “What is happening is the local [traders] are getting aggressive on the short side and then when they start to run out of steam, or they find a lot of buying under the market, they turn around and sell it,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is not enough selling coming in to keep the market continuing to tank. We are looking for the market to continue its slow grind down.”

Saal added that it was clear that crude was also making a retracement of its lows on Thursday. May crude ended up settling 91 cents higher at $51.13/bbl. May heating oil and gasoline also reversed course Thursday, climbing by 4.03 cents and 1.98 cents to close at $1.4823/gallon and $1.5041/gallon, respectively.

As for the storage report, industry expectations prior to the release couldn’t have been closer. The final ICAP-Nymex storage auction, which runs from 3-4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, produced an implied market forecast of a 45.1 Bcf injection.

The Producing region led the way by putting 24 Bcf underground, while the East and West regions injected 16 Bcf and 4 Bcf, respectively. Working gas in storage now stands at 1,293 Bcf, according to Energy Information Administration estimates. Stocks are now 246 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 269 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,024 Bcf.

IFR Energy Services’ Tim Evans said the “natural gas market absorbed the 44 Bcf net injection to U.S. natural gas storage as bearish, but expected, and is attempting to turn higher in sympathy with a break in the slide in the petroleum complex. From a fundamental perspective though, it looks very much like an uphill fight.”

Noting that the year-on-five-year average surplus has swollen to 269 Bcf, Evans said temperature forecasts suggest the surplus could increase for at least the next two reports and possibly longer. “Even with normal temperatures or some more supportive patterns, we’re entering a part of the year where it would really take extreme variances to generate much in the way of heating or cooling demand,” he said. “The bulls are likely to have quite a wait for either summer heat or hurricane threats to help their cause.”

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