After US tariff pause, prices of gas in Europe rebounded
The prices of Dutch and British gasoline rebounded Thursday, after U.S. president Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension on tariffs on many trading partners.
LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract increased by 1.5 euros, to 34.70 Euros per megawatt hour or $11.21/mmBtu at 0818 GMT.
LSEG data show that the contract reached a low intraday of 32.50 euro/MWh on Wednesday. This was its lowest level since July 2024.
The Dutch June contract increased by 2.31 euros to 35.91 Euro/MWh.
The British day-ahead contracts was up by 2.4 pence to 85.15p/therm.
Trump's Wednesday announcement of a pause in most new tariffs while increasing the tariff rate on China to 125% drove European shares sharply upwards on Thursday, after days of losses.
In a daily market report, consultancy Auxilione stated that "Energy Markets have also reacted to the news" and showed some upside this morning. "The outlook remains unchanged, but there is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen next."
Technical metrics show that the price drop on Wednesday has put the gas forward-month contract into oversold territory.
According to LSEG, the relative strength index (RSI), of the Dutch front month, fell below 30 on Tuesday. This is a technical threshold that indicates a stock or commodity could be due for a correction upward.
Analysts said that the need to replenish stock also supported the conclusion that Europe's gas storage facilities ended the winter almost two-thirds full.
Analysts at Engie EnergyScan stated that "overall, the European Gas Balance remains tight and net storage withdrawals have resumed since 7 April. On 8 April, EU Gas Stocks were on average 34.97% full, compared with 60.72% in last year's figures."
EU diplomats said on Wednesday that the EU is considering rules which would allow countries to deviate from the requirement of 90% gas storage before winter by 10 percentage points.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was up by 2.46 euros, at 63.40 euro per metric ton. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale, editing by Barbara Lewis.
(source: Reuters)
