Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were mixed on Tuesday morning, with price pressure from economic concerns and forecasts of milder weather while Europe’s need to refill storage continued to provide support.
The benchmark Dutch front-month contract (TRNLTTFMc1) was down by 0.70 euros at 34.70 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0905 GMT, LSEG data showed.
The British day-ahead contract (TRGBNBPD1) was up 0.20 pence at 86.55 pence per therm while the within-day contract (TRGBNBPWKD) eased 1.00 pence to 86.00 p/therm.
“We expect some bearishness today following the warmer weather forecasts as well as recession fears from the international financial sector,” LSEG analyst Saku Jussila said in a morning report.
Over the long Easter weekend, weather forecasts for northwest Europe and Britain have adjusted significantly higher from the end of this week, the analyst added.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump’s criticism of U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell has stoked fresh economic fears.
Regardless of how the global economic situation develops, the European gas market is unlikely to be over-supplied in the near future, Engie EnergyScan analysts said.
“So we think prices have more upside potential than downside potential,” they added.
Europe’s gas storage sites ended the winter season almost two-thirds empty and were last recorded at 37.04% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows.
In the week ending April 20, EU gas storage increased by 1.6 billion cubic metres (bcm), higher than the five-year average for this time of year, Jefferies analysts said.
Getting to 80% and 90% storage utilisation by November 1, as targeted by the EU, will require an additional injection of 48 bcm and 59 bcm respectively, they added.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz said it is seeking to buy more than 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to help to refill storage sites at record low levels ahead of the /26 heating season.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was down 1.53 euros at 64.36 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters
