EUROPE GAS-European gas prices continue to ease on mild and windy weather
The British and Dutch gas contract eased further Friday, after a steep fall the day before, due to forecasts of mild weather and windy conditions in Europe over the next two week.
LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract for the TTF hub fell 0.19 euros to 30.90 Euro per megawatt hour (10.48/mmBtu) at 1010 GMT.
It traded earlier at 30,82 euros/MWh - its lowest intraday price since October 1.
LSEG data shows that the Dutch day-ahead contracts dropped 0.13 euros to 30.45 euro/MWh. This is its lowest level since July 11, 2024.
The British gas front-month price fell 0.62 pence, to 77.13 pence/therm. However, the day-ahead contract rose 0.25 pence and now stands at 73.75 pence/therm.
In a morning report, Wayne Bryan, principal analyst of LSEG's gas division, stated that "the end of Troll and the expectation of continued mild weather with wind until mid-November" are key factors to any significant departure from recent trends.
He added that contracts appeared to be a bit oversold, and a technical recovery and profit-taking could occur on Friday.
The weather forecast and increased supply from Norway already had a negative impact on the prices of British and Dutch day-ahead contracts on Thursday.
Energy Aspects analysts said that a recent note by MetDesk, a weather data provider, indicated that there would be frequent cold spells in the next two months. The chance of a three-month cold period is also higher than previous years.
They said that frequent periods of low wind speed would increase the demand from the electricity sector and the rate at which withdrawals from storage of gas in early winter months. This could create a tail risk for TTF prices in the late winter months.
Gas Infrastructure Europe's data shows that EU gas storage facilities were 82.79% full last month, compared to 95.21 % at the same time last season.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon market was up by 0.13 euros at 78.80 euro per metric ton. Reporting by Nora Buli, Oslo; Editing and proofreading by Harikrishnan Nair
(source: Reuters)