2024-07-30 06:20:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES UP
BLOOMBERG - Jul 26, 2024 - European natural gas prices rose, signaling the market balance remains fragile even as demand for the fuel is persistently weak.
Benchmark futures settled 2.2% higher at €32.48 a megawatt-hour Friday after slumping a day earlier. The contract also posted a second straight weekly gain.
The zigzag in prices this week indicates the market remains sensitive to supply disruptions after Europe became more reliant on global markets as a result of the energy crisis. While traders began July relaxed about supply risks, sentiment has shifted recently amid unplanned outages, warmer weather and stronger competition with other parts of the world for cargoes.
The latest bullish factor impacting the market is an outage at a liquefied natural gas export plant in Australia. Ichthys LNG is repairing one of its two trains following an unplanned issue. That risks tightening global supplies even as flows closer to home, from top-supplier Norway, have rebounded. A key US liquefied natural gas plant is also resuming exports after Hurricane Beryl.
Analysts at Energy Aspects Ltd. said in a note this week they expect an “active hurricane season and Norwegian outage extensions” to support Europe’s gas prices until the heating season officially starts in October.
At the same time, demand for gas continues to disappoint, with Italy’s Eni SpA observing a 16% decline in consumption during the second quarter from a year earlier. It said the drop was partially linked the country’s industrial sector.
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Earlier:
2024, May, 22, 06:50:00
EUROPEAN RENEWABLES CUTTING
There is a growing political focus on the need to develop renewables, with countries agreeing at the COP28 climate summit in December to work towards tripling capacity to 11,000GW by 2030.
2024, May, 3, 06:50:00
EUROPEAN ENERGY MISTAKES
It trails China and the US in areas such as manufacturing of clean technologies thanks to a mix of burdensome regulations and higher energy prices. Electricity prices in the EU are typically twice to three times higher than in the US.
2024, April, 26, 06:40:00
EUROPEAN ENERGY UNCERTAINTY
Worries include uncertainty over remaining Russian flows through Ukraine and rebounding gas demand in Asia. A colder-than-normal winter spurring consumption at home is also seen as more likely after two consecutive mild ones.
2024, April, 26, 06:35:00
EUROPEAN ELECTRICITY PRICES UP
The capacity for transmitting electricity to Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy has been reduced since early March, according to French power-grid operator RTE. That’s depriving those nations of exports of cheaper French nuclear power and boosting wholesale prices across the region.
2024, April, 17, 06:55:00
EUROPE NEED RUSSIAN LNG
"If Europe is still importing LNG from Russia, it is because there is a need," a France-based gas trader said. "With our other main suppliers, such as Norway, operating at maximum capacity, it will be hard to completely stop the flow of Russian LNG. We are still not completely out of the crisis."
2024, April, 12, 06:30:00
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES WILL UP
Russia’s gas-transit agreement with Ukraine also expires at the end of the year, and there’s little clarity as of now if these volumes will still find their way to Europe.
2024, February, 21, 06:55:00
EUROPEAN INDUSTRY RISKS
Europe risks losing out to China and the US in the race to supply the technologies needed to roll out renewables and slash industrial emissions.
