Pricewatch l 30 Jun 2023 I Gas Matters Today

European natural gas prices settled slightly higher on Thursday, despite the end of seasonal maintenance works at a major US LNG plant.

US feedgas flows were on track to reach about 12.7 Bcf/d on Wednesday based on nominations for the morning cycle, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights. This was up more than 1 Bcf/d from the prior day and from a recent low of about 10.8 Bcf/d last Thursday.

The rebound in US feedgas demand has been driven by deliveries to Cheniere's Sabine Pass LNG plant in Louisiana as the facility appeared to be nearing the end of maintenance activities planned as part of a six-year maintenance cycle, S&P reported.

Nevertheless, strong European storage injections (77% full as of 28 June) and continuing low supplies from Norway have resulted in slightly higher prices in Europe on Thursday.

TTF settled 2.9% higher at USD 11.22/MMBtu, while NBP saw a 2% rise to USD 10.90/MMBtu. JKM has also increased, albeit at a lower rate, rising 0.8% to USD 12.12/MMBtu.

Meanwhile, Henry Hub advanced by 3.8% to USD 2.7/MMBtu, on lower than expected storage fill revealed in a weekly government report.

According to the EIA, underground storage was injected with 76 Bcf in the week ending 23 June which came as a surprise to the market and has set off a rally in prices. This was on the back of a heatwave that continues to ravage through Texas and other southern US states, leading to higher gas demand for air conditioning.

Front-month futures and indexes at last close with day-on-day changes (click to enlarge): Time references based on London GMT. Brent, WTI, NBP, TTF and EU CO2 data from ICE. Henry Hub, JKM and API2 data from CME. Prices in USD/MMBtu based on exchange rates at last market close. All monetary values rounded to nearest whole cent/penny. Text and graphic copyright © Gas Strategies, all rights.