19
Apr
2021

Pricewatch | 19 Apr 2021 | Gas Matters Today

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European gas prices made it a third day of gains on Friday, with cold weather and tightening supplies continuing to lift prices.

The front-month UK NBP contract rallied by 1.8% to settle at the equivalent of USD 7.07/MMBtu – its highest close since 8 February. The month-ahead Dutch TTF contract rallied by 1.5% to settle at USD 7.21/MMBtu – its highest close since 28 January.

Cold weather and tightening supplies continued to support European gas prices, with Friday’s rally seeing NBP take a premium over Asian LNG marker JKM.

On the supply side, pipeline flows from Russia into Europe fell further on Friday, standing at 320 MMcm/d – down from the 322 MMcm/d on Thursday, according to EnergyScan. Flows from Norway edged higher on Friday, standing at 303 MMcm/d – up from 299 MMcm/d on Thursday.

Friday saw NBP take a minor premium of USD 0.05/MMBtu over JKM, with TTF’s premium over the Asian LNG marker widening to USD 0.19/MMBtu. Whilst European gas prices rallied, JKM remained unchanged at USD 7.02/MMBtu.

The gas price rally also aided the European carbon price which hit a fresh record high of EUR 44.90/tonne during trading on Friday morning, however the front-month contract price retreated in the afternoon, settling at EUR 44.33/tonne.  

In the US, gas benchmark Henry Hub rallied by 0.8% to close at USD 2.68/MMBtu.

Crude prices ended the week with a loss, however the front-month Brent and WTI contracts remained in the USD 66/barrel and USD 63/barrel range respectively. Prices were falling on Monday amid surging Covid-19 cases – namely in India – raising concerns that lockdown measures will be implemented, which could hit crude demand.

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.

Contact the editor:

Eric Thorp
[email protected]

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