As traders monitor progress in US-Iran negotiations, the price of EUROPE GAS is on the rise.
Dutch and British prices on Thursday morning reduced a portion of their previous session's loss, as the market awaited more updates on Middle East peace negotiations and the potential reopening of Strait of Hormuz.
Data from the Intercontinental Exchange showed that the benchmark Dutch front-month contracts at the TTF hub were up 0.81 euros at 42.21 Euro per megawatt hour by 8:20 GMT. The last session closed with a 4.5% decrease. Prices started a little lower and briefly hit?40.85 euro/MWh. This was the level seen six weeks ago at the beginning of the U.S. - Iran conflict.
After dropping 4.7% Wednesday, the British contract for April rose 2.01 pence to 105.68 cents per therm. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated on Thursday that no dates had been set for talks between the U.S. Daniel Hynes is a senior commodity strategist with ANZ Research. He said that earlier this week, the optimism of a 'war nearing an end' boosted sentiment in the energy sector and led to a price drop. The sell-off this week was further exacerbated by the fact that investment funds reduced their TTF long net positions by 37 Terawatt Hours (TWh), to 271 TWh, during the week ending April 10.
"Selling?these positions can lead to significant price drops." Analysts at Engie EnergyScan say that for this to happen the geopolitical environment must not worsen. ING analysts say that the high gas exports from Engie's liquefied gas terminals have kept the europe market comfortable. Analysts said that the longer Middle East disruptions persist, the greater the competition Europe will face from Asia.
The pipeline supply of natural gases from?Norway dropped on Thursday due to maintenance at the massive Troll field and the Kollsnes treatment plant.
Gas Infrastructure Europe's data shows that EU gas storage sites were at last 29.6% filled, flat day-to-day and still lagging behind levels of around 35.8% last year.
The benchmark carbon contract in Europe has eased 0.02 euros to 74.13 euro per metric ton. (Reporting and editing by Harikrishnan Nair; Nora Buli)
(source: Reuters)
