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EUROPE GAS-Prices down on moderate weather condition, strong stocks

LONDON, March 20 - Dutch and British wholesale timely gas costs were down on Wednesday morning, in the middle of healthy stocks, mild weather and strong flows of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF center relieved by 1.00 euros to 28.15 euros per megawatt hour ( MWh) by 0934 GMT, while the day-ahead agreement was down 0.70 euros at 28.00 euros/MWh, LSEG information revealed.

In Britain, the day-ahead agreement fell by 2.23 cent to 72.00 pence per therm.

It is a somewhat bearish market, due to warmer weather and more LNG, a European gas trader said, including that market gamers are cautious about the developments in the Middle East as attacks in the Red Sea continue.

Consultancy Auxilione stated that there was no genuine modification to market fundamentals with seasonal typical temperature levels anticipated for the weeks ahead, lots of gas in storage and LNG vessels still arriving for the weeks ahead despite increased interest for freights from the Far East market in recent days.

LSEG information showed temperature levels in Europe are forecast to stay mild for another three days, then will come by practically 5 degrees Celsius into next week for a number of days and then go back to above normal thereafter.

Experts at Engie's EnergyScan stated that a rise in JKM costs, the Asian gas benchmark, could worry some European buyers, as it increased by 0.36% on the spot to EUR31.345/ MWh and by 0.20% on the May 2024 contract to EUR31.091/ MWh, both levels above European gas prices.

At the moment, Asia LNG imports are on a seasonal decrease, however they ought to rebound from May. With the current rate differential, there is for that reason the risk of a diversion of LNG freights from Europe to Asia, EnergyScan experts stated.

( Nevertheless) our company believe that on the one hand Europe has sufficiently comfy gas stocks to manage a specific drop in LNG supply and on the other hand we are uncertain that China will continue to purchase LNG if costs soar, they included.

Europe's gas stores are presently 59.5% complete, the current data from Gas Facilities Europe revealed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract alleviated by 0.46 euros to 60.38 euros a metric ton.

(source: Reuters)