Natural gas futures continued to grind lower early Thursday as traders braced for an unseasonably light drawdown from the latest round of government inventory data.

The March Nymex contract, after falling below the $2.000/MMBtu threshold on Wednesday, was down another 2.5 cents to $1.942 at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is expected to reveal an unusually light withdrawal in the mid-70s Bcf in its latest weekly natural gas storage report at 10:30 a.m. ET, according to estimates.

A Reuters survey of 14 analysts produced a median withdrawal estimate of 76 Bcf, with responses ranging from withdrawals of 65 Bcf to 100 Bcf. NGI modeled a 75 Bcf withdrawal for the latest print, which covers net changes for the week ended Feb. 2.

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