Prices for Europe GAS are slightly firmer due to renewed Middle East tensions and Norway maintenance
The Dutch and British natural gas contracts were slightly firmer Wednesday morning, as new attacks between the U.S.A. and Iran dampened hopes for a peace agreement and as Norwegian exports of gas are expected to fall due to an increase in maintenance outages.
Data from the Intercontinental Exchange showed that the benchmark 'Dutch Front-Month Contract at the TTF Hub was EUR0.58 higher at EUR49.33 a megawatt?hour by 0816 GMT.
The British front-month contract increased by?1.43 cents to 118.62 cents per therm.
"TTF Gas has been fairly range-bound for the past few weeks. "We do not expect major price fluctuations today, either. It will take some reliable?news of fundamental changes before we see any significant movements," said an analyst from Mind Energy in a recent note. Analysts at Engie EnergyScan say that a new escalation between Iran and the U.S. in the Gulf threatens to undermine a fragile ceasefire.
They added that this?made a return to normal", and a sustained rebound in European LNG imports is unlikely at the present time.
Saku Jussila, LSEG analyst, says that the?situation in Middle East combined with lower Norwegian?gas flows from Thursday should see prices trading sideways or slightly higher today.
He added that maintenance at the massive Troll field and Kollsnes plant would cut 46 million cubic meters (mcms) per day of supply from Thursday to 15 June.
Gas Infrastructure Europe's data shows that EU gas storage sites are currently 42.79 percent full, as opposed to 51.4% last year.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was EUR0.34 lower at EUR75.81 per metric ton. (Reporting and editing by Rashmi aich; Nora Buli)
(source: Reuters)
