Soft shoulder-season fundamentals, and the prospect of a sizable storage build this week, helped send natural gas futures lower in early trading Wednesday, with the front month paring gains from the prior day’s trading.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

After rallying 36.7 cents on Tuesday, the November Nymex contract was off 4.7 cents to $6.790/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

While futures rallied in part Tuesday on support from updated estimates showing a decline in production, prices in the physical market remained “very weak,” EBW Analytics Group senior analyst Eli Rubin observed.

“Daily heating demand may bottom out on Thursday…before more than doubling” heading into the weekend, Rubin said. This could help support “a flagging physical market. Still, the combination of ongoing LNG outages at...