European gas benchmarks settled higher on Wednesday, despite a slow start to the day as the strike action at Australian LNG plants and lower supply kept the market on its feet.
Strikes at the Gorgon and Wheatstone plants, that started off with partial outages last week, has progressed to an escalated action programme and the workers’ union and the management do not appear to be close to reaching a deal.
Union members had previously announced plans to begin all-day stoppages for a period as long as two weeks from Thursday, if the sides failed to reach an agreement on pay and other conditions. Under the escalation, the staff could also limit activities including the mooring and loading of tankers or other vessels, laboratory analysis work and restarts of equipment.
In addition, a fault has been reported at the Wheatstone LNG facility by operator Chevron which cut production by about 25%.
TTF settled at 11.58/MMBtu and NBP at USD 11.53/MMBtu, both up 6.2% day-on-day on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Henry Hub saw a 2.3% decline amid export uncertainty, cooling weather and the spectre of hurricane conditions dropping temperatures further on the East Coast.
Traders are keeping an eye on longer-than-expected maintenance in Norway. On top of that, the market participants speculate that at least two of Freeport LNG’s three gas-processing trains may be idled, as there appears to be a dip in feedgas flows to the plant for a fifth day straight.
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.
Subscription Benefits
Our three titles – LNG Business Review, Gas Matters and Gas Matters Today – tackle the biggest questions on global developments and major industry trends through a mixture of news, profiles and analysis.
LNG Business Review
LNG Business Review seeks to discover new truths about today’s LNG industry. It strives to widen market players’ scope of reference by actively engaging with events, offering new perspectives while challenging existing ones, and never shying away from being a platform for debate.
Gas Matters
Gas Matters digs deep into the stories of today, keeping the challenges of tomorrow in its sights. Weekly features and interviews, informed by unrivalled in-house expertise, offer a fresh perspective on events as well as thoughtful, intelligent analysis that dares to challenge the status quo.
Gas Matters Today
Gas Matters Today cuts through the bluster of online news and views to offer trustworthy, informed perspectives on major events shaping the gas and LNG industries. This daily news service provides unparalleled insight by drawing on the collective knowledge of in-house reporters, specialist contributors and extensive archive to go beyond the headlines, making it essential reading for gas industry professionals.
