The price of gas in Europe has recovered from a new 5-month low
The European wholesale gas price at the TTF hub has rebounded after dropping to its lowest level in 5 months early in trade, amid protests against gas infrastructure in Ukraine.
LSEG data shows that the benchmark front-month contract for the Dutch TTF Hub rose to 39.94 Euros per megawatt hour or MWh, or $12.71/mmBtu at 09:39 GMT.
It traded at 36.45 Euros/MWh earlier on Friday. This was its lowest price since September 27, 2024.
The British front-month contracts also hit a low of five months and traded at 91 pence a therm, 3.04 pence less.
The British day-ahead contracts was up 1.75 cents at 95 p/therm.
The company reported that Russian forces attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure and natural gas facilities with a drone attack and missiles on Friday. They damaged the production facilities for natural gas of Ukraine's oil and gas state firm Naftogaz.
The operator of Ukraine's state-run gas distribution system revealed that the largest private energy company in Ukraine, DTEK, has halted production at its facilities located in the central Poltava Region. However the data showed that gas imports to Ukraine from Europe remained relatively low on Friday.
A European gas trader stated that "fundamentally there are still a lot more upside risks for winter."
Prices dropped by about 7% Thursday, as European leaders met to discuss Ukraine and defense. They also urged EU authorities and Kyiv for intensified talks after a stoppage of Russian gas transiting through Ukraine.
The conclusions of the meeting called for the parties to "intensify their efforts to find workable solutions to gas transit issues, while taking Slovakia's concerns into account", but did not mention a "resumption of flows" that was mentioned in an earlier draft.
The trader stated that the news had accelerated the move of financial players to liquidate long positions.
The latest data available from traders showed that net long positions of funds dropped by 56.5 Terawatt Hours (TWh) to 175 TWh last week, down from the peak of almost 300 TWh at the beginning of February.
The market is also affected by the desire of EU countries to relax their gas storage targets, and expectations for a possible peace agreement in Ukraine.
Gas Infrastructure Europe reported that EU gas storage facilities were at last 37.17 percent full. The EU has a target of 90% filling by November 1.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was up by 1.38 euros at 68.70 euro per metric ton. (Reporting and editing by Nina Chestney; Nora Buli)
(source: Reuters)
