Natural gas futures eased lower early Thursday as traders appeared to be keeping their powder dry ahead of the latest round of government inventory data, expected to show a larger-than-average weekly injection into U.S. storage.

After climbing 8.5 cents in the previous session, the October Nymex contract was down 3.3 cents to $9.094/MMBtu as of around 8:45 a.m. ET.

For the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET, major surveys have been pointing to a net injection in the upper 50s Bcf for the week ended Aug. 26.

Survey responses have been fairly tight ranging, with injection estimates from 53 Bcf to 64 Bcf. Reuters polled 15 analysts, whose estimates produced a median forecast of 57 Bcf. The average of a Wall Street Journal...