European natural gas futures eased on Monday after a short bull run seen last week.
Front-month Dutch TTF futures fell 3.2% to USD 9.77/MMBtu, signalling that traders still see sluggish industrial demand and high inventory levels partially offsetting supply risks as the region prepares for the upcoming winter.
Meanwhile, NBP saw a 3.4% decline to USD 9.45/MMBtu. This happened as Britain’s National Grid has asked Uniper to ready a unit at its Ratcliffe coal-fired power plant in case extra electricity is needed amid warmer temperatures on Monday afternoon.
According to BNN Bloomberg, prices have zigzagged in the past week amid an array of competing factors, including plant outages and the onset of unusually hot weather in Europe and Asia, which could raise cooling needs and competition for fuel imports.
“While fuller-than-average storage levels are still providing a sense of security as Europe prepares for the upcoming heating season, traders appear to be bracing for the possibility of a tighter market, with prices nearly 25% higher than they were at the start of this month,” it added.
Meanwhile, JKM remained relatively flat, increasing by a mere 0.2% to USD 9.27/MMBtu.
The Asian LNG trend was mirrored in the US, where Henry Hub was up 0.2% to USD 2.27/MMBtu, despite shifts in weather forecasts and continued reminders of robust supplies.
Oil dipped by around USD 3/barrel on Monday after analysts highlighted rising global supplies and concerns about demand growth just ahead of key inflation data and a US Federal Reserve meeting later this week Reuters reported.
Brent fell 3.9% to USD 71.84/barrel, while WTI saw a 4.3% drop to USD 67.12/barrel.
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.
