Pricewatch | 13 Jan 2021 | Gas Matters Today

European gas prices rocketed to levels not seen since late 2018 on Tuesday amid expected prolonged colder weather and a tight LNG market. The front-month UK NBP surged by 17.7% to hit the equivalent of USD 10.56/MMBtu – marking a high not seen since late September 2018. The Dutch TTF marker settled at its highest since mid-November 2018 after surging by 18.2% to close at the equivalent of USD 9.32/MMBtu.

The Asian LNG bull run slowed on Tuesday as the price remained unchanged, with US gas benchmark Henry Hub showing marginal gains.

Crude oil prices hit an 11-month high on the back of a larger than expected draw on US crude inventories for the week ending 8 January. The American Petroleum Institute reported a draw of 5.8 million barrels – a level more than double the 2.26 million barrels that analysts had predicted.

News of the inventory draw down, coupled with Saudi’s voluntary production cuts saw the front-month Brent price hit USD 56.58/barrel and WTI close at USD 53.21/barrel.

As for coal, the month-ahead AP12 coal contract hit its highest level since March 2019 amid strong demand in Asia – with the northeast of the region gripped by a cold snap – and tight supply.

Front-month futures and indexes at last close with day-on-day changes (click to enlarge):

Time references based on London GMT. Brent, WTI, NBP, TTF and EU CO2 data from ICE. Henry Hub, JKM and API2 data from CME. Prices in USD/MMBtu based on exchange rates at last market close. All monetary values rounded to nearest whole cent/penny. Text and graphic copyright © Gas Strategies, all rights reserved.