Pricewatch l 21 May 2024 I Gas Matters Today

Natural gas futures rose strongly in all three of the main regional consuming markets on Monday, notably in the US where Henry Hub continued its remarkable rally to reach the highest month-ahead close since mid-January.

The June Henry Hub contract rose by another 4.8%, from USD 2.63/MMBtu on Friday to USD 2.75/MMBtu on Monday. It is now 71% up on the low of USD 1.61/MMBtu reached in the final week of April.

The driving factors are the usual suspects, along with hot weather which is boosting demand for air conditioning and therefore electricity.

European gas futures and the Asian JKM LNG price were all up by around 3%.

Sign up for Gas Matters Today's free daily newsletters, with top news, price reporting, and more 

In continental Europe, the June TTF contract rose for the fifth consecutive session to reach USD 10.12/MMBtu yesterday, up 3.1% from USD 9.82/MMBtu on Friday.

In the UK, NBP was up 3.0%, from USD 9.43/MMBtu on Friday to USD 9.72/MMBtu on Monday.

Both TTF and NBP were hovering around their respective Monday closes in early trading on Tuesday.

JKM was up 3.1%, from USD 11.16/MMBtu to USD 11.51/MMBtu, the highest month-ahead close since the start of the year, amid strong demand from the heat waves affecting much of the northern hemisphere.

Oil prices eased as markets digested the news from Iran, where the president and foreign minister were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Brent closed down 0.3%, from USD 83.98/barrel on Friday to USD 83.71/barrel on Monday while WTI was also down 0.3%, from USD 80.06/barrel to USD 79.80/barrel. Both Brent and WTI were down by about another 1.2% on Tuesday morning.

Oil prices have remained rangebound this month after sharp falls at the end of April. Brent has been trading in a narrow band of USD 82.38-83.98/barrel with WTI trading in a slightly wider band of USD 78.11-80.06/barrel.

European carbon prices rose strongly, with EU emissions allowances up 4.9% to EUR 72.40/tonne. Traders at Energi Danmark commented that “the uptrend was the result of strong buying interest in the recent allowance auction, while the price climbs on the related gas and coal markets added to the upside”.

Coal prices were influenced by higher gas prices and growing demand in Asia. API2 was up 0.8%, from USD 4.20/MMBtu on Friday to USD 4.23/MMBtu on Monday.

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.