Pricewatch | 14 Apr 2023 | Gas Matters Today

Natural gas prices in Europe moved only slightly on Thursday as the market continues functioning under the influence of mixed near-term signals.

Demand has declined lately due to spring-like temperatures and Europe has started to fill up storage  ahead of the next heating season.

But continued uncertainty regarding strike action at French LNG terminals and maintenance at Norway’s production facilities temporarily reducing flows are keeping the market cautious.

As a result, NBP saw a 0.5% rise to USD 12.63/MMBtu, while the TTF fell 1.2% to USD 13.64/MMBtu.

Meanwhile, a Cedigaz quarterly international natural gas prices reports has revealed that in the first quarter of this year, the TTF price was 42% lower than in the previous quarter, at USD 16.8/MmBtu, returning to a level similar to that in Q3 of 2021. The TTF bottomed out at USD 12.6/MMBtu on the 20 March, its lowest level since the summer of 2021.

At the same time, EU gas consumption was 17% below the seasonal average, and continued strong imports of LNG and Norwegian gas have allowed to both replace Russian pipeline gas and ensure a very high level of gas storage.

In the US, the Henry Hub continued sliding, with the front-month contract falling 4.1% on Thursday to USD 2.01/MMBtu. In its weekly storage report, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 25 Bcf injection into natural gas storage for the week ending 7 April, marking the first build of the summer refill season. Injection estimates ahead of the EIA report ranged from 20-35 Bcf.

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.