2022-11-23 10:35:00
EUROPEAN GAS STABILIZATION
BLOOMBERG- Nov 23, 2022 - Mild weather across Europe in recent weeks is setting the region up to avoid a natural gas shortage for winter this year and next, according to Trafigura Group, one of the world’s biggest commodity traders.
Europe’s gas inventories are likely to drain by roughly two-thirds this winter, provided there’s regular weather and Russian flows continue through Ukraine, said Trafigura Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Weir. That means the region will be able to survive the upcoming winter period, and could have enough of a fuel buffer to help avoid a crunch next year too, he added.
“Should that be the case, we may not have so much of a problem the following winter, which was actually the real concern,” Weir said at the Financial Times Commodities Asia Summit in Singapore on Wednesday. “Jury’s out, but I think a significant problem has been alleviated.”
Exceptionally mild weather across Northwest Europe since October has led to a sharp drop in gas prices from record levels over the summer. The region has also raced to refill inventories and import shipments of liquefied natural gas, a super-cool fuel that’s transported via ships rather than pipelines.
We’ve got a situation where “we’ve got very robust storage of gas in Europe,” Weir said. “We were very worried about energy prices and that’s been abated.”
Still, Gazprom PJSC threatened to cut its gas flows sent via Ukraine next week after the Russian producer raised concerns about volumes reaching Moldova.
Government and utility officials have warned that Europe faces an acute gas shortage next winter, when the global energy crisis is expected to peak. Russia has essentially halted gas deliveries to Europe, which will make it more challenging for the region to refill inventories.
-----
Earlier:
2022, November, 18, 11:20:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES UPDOWN
Meanwhile, the European Union is continuing talks about ways to limit spikes in gas prices ahead of a meeting of energy ministers next week.
2022, November, 16, 11:00:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES UP
Benchmark gas futures settled 9.2% higher, following an increase of 16% on Monday. Freeport LNG in Texas will likely extend an outage that began in June, increasing global competition for much-needed supplies right before the winter.
2022, November, 7, 11:55:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES FALL ANEW
Risks over existing gas supplies from Russia will continue through the coming months, with just one pipeline route open to the biggest European customers.
2022, November, 3, 12:20:00
EUROPEAN ENERGY TRANSFORMATION
Currently, the most expensive form of generation -- gas -- sets the price for all electricity that’s sold into the market. That means consumers are bearing the brunt of Russia’s supply cuts to the continent. It also means Europe isn’t feeling much of the benefit of low-cost renewables like wind farms, which get to sell at big margins.
2022, November, 2, 11:45:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES RISE
Dutch front-month gas, Europe’s benchmark, traded 2.4% higher at €119 per megawatt-hour by 8:43 a.m. in Amsterdam after losing 5.8% a day earlier.
2022, November, 1, 17:05:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES FALL
Europe’s gas storage sites are nearly 95% full, providing a buffer for when the weather turns colder. Reserves in the biggest gas consumer, Germany, have risen to 99%, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
2022, October, 31, 12:00:00
EUROPEAN WINTER GAS RISKS
The push to fill storage facilities before the start of winter has been successful -- with many close to capacity. But some suppliers may now want to hold back those reserves until they can sell their stored gas at more attractive rates.
