Pricewatch | 19 Aug 2022 | Gas Matters Today

European gas hubs TTF and NBP brushed off Wednesday's loss and hit five-month highs on Thursday amid ongoing winter supply concerns.

The Dutch and UK gas benchmarks rallied by 6.2% and 3.1% respectively on Thursday, with the former settling at the equivalent of USD 71.43/MMBtu and NBP closing at USD 54.58/MMBtu.

The rally was pinned on ongoing supply concerns heading into winter, with forecasts for warmer weather in the coming weeks also helping lift prices.

Across the pond, US gas benchmark Henry Hub continued to fall, closing 0.6% lower at USD 9.19/MMBtu.

Asian LNG marker posted strong gains as the front-month contract rolled over to October. JKM settled at USD 57.6/MMBtu, with the marker rallying amid Asian buyers returning to the spot market and trying to wrestle cargoes away from Europe.

While JKM has strengthened, gas prices in Europe for October still hold a premium. The October-dated TTF and NBP contracts closed at ~USD 72.5/MMBtu and ~USD 62.6/MMBtu on Thursday, suggesting Asian buyers may struggle to compete with European buyers for cargoes. 

Soaring gas and coal prices have supported the European carbon price, which hit a fresh six-month high on Thursday, settling at EUR 95.64/tonne.

Crude prices continued to climb on Thursday, with Brent and WTI settling 3.1% and 2.7% higher respectively.

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.