EUROPE GAS - Prices steady before Trump's China trip, Hormuz Shipping Scrutiny

Dutch and British natural gas prices were largely unchanged on Wednesday morning, as a few shipments had been flagged for passage via the Strait of Hormuz. This was due to the highly anticipated trip of President Donald Trump to China.

Intercontinental Exchange data showed that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract for the TTF hub had increased by 0.06 euros to 46.75 Euro per megawatt hour (MWh), as of 0813 GMT.

The British contract for the month of June was down 0.10 pence at?114.70 per therm. Analysts at Engie 'Energyscan' said that the market was waiting for further clarity on the fragile ceasefire agreement in the Middle East. Attention has also been focused on the U.S. - China summit between President Xi Jinping and Trump. The first U.S. president to visit China in almost a decade will take place against the backdrops of the Iran War and trade tensions.

Daniel Hynes is a senior commodities strategist with ANZ. He said in a recent note that there's reassurance that more LNG cargoes will start to emerge from the Gulf.

In recent days, two tankers carrying Qatari LNG bound for Pakistan cleared the Strait as part of an agreement between Iran and Pakistan.

Hynes said that buyers are still concerned about the availability of supplies, and an increasing number have entered the spot market for the first time in a long time.

Gas Infrastructure Europe's data shows that in Europe, the gas storage sites are only 35.6% filled, down from 42.8% last year. They also fall short of levels during a previous energy crisis, which occurred in 2022. Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed that higher summer prices than where winter next year is currently trading limit incentives to store gas. This raises doubts about the'resilience' of European natural gas during the heating season in 2026/27. The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was down 1.51 euros, at 74.30 euro per metric ton. (Reporting and editing by Harikrishnan Nair; Reporting by Nora Buli)

(source: Reuters)