EUROPE GAS-Prices steady near 14-month highs
The Dutch and British wholesale prices of gas were mostly unchanged on Friday morning. They are near the highest level in 14 months, and some profit-taking was offset by an outage to Norway's LNG facility and possible cooler weather next week.
According to LSEG, the benchmark front-month contract for the Dutch TTF Hub was 49.74 euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh) or $14.99/mmbtu at 0909 GMT. This is a decrease of 0.02 euros.
The Dutch day-ahead contracts eased by 0.38 euro to 49.45 Euro/MWh.
The day-ahead contract in Britain was down by 0.6 pence, at 123.90 cents per therm.
In a morning report, an analyst from Energi Danmark stated that the current price of 50 EUR/MWh was the highest for more than a full year. The market also appeared to be calmer today.
After the Russian gas pipeline deliveries through Ukraine ceased, prices rose to their highest level since October 2023. Europe is now more dependent on LNG deliveries.
Ulrich Weber, LSEG analyst, said that a one-week outage of Norway's Hammerfest plant LNG would lead to a loss of "bearable", 1-1.5 cargoes.
Engie EnergyScan's morning report stated that "TTF prices for February 2025 are a little weaker today, probably due to profit-taking."
They added that it remains to be determined whether the move will be sufficient to stop the fundamentally-driven bullish trend.
Georg Mueller, LSEG's meteorologist, said that the latest weather forecasts showed a cooler week for next, but also indicated a milder period in the second half January.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was up by 0.24 euros at 75.41 euro per metric ton.
(source: Reuters)
