Gas Prices Sensitive To Supply Disruptions

European LNG trended lower through trading on Wednesday to be down 1.2% to EUR 33.40, close to the intraday low of EUR 33.15. It reached a high of EUR 34.50 early in the session. The sell off was driven by a scheduled end to an unplanned Norwegian outage.

• The outage at Norway’s Nyhamna facility and the UK’s Easington terminal should end on June 8. Norway’s gas exports rose on Wednesday.
• Egypt is going to increase LNG imports as it faces shortages in the face of increased air conditioning demand. Industrial plants have been shut to save power. 20 shipments over the summer are expected, according to a Bloomberg source.
• US natural gas prices rose sharply up 6.7% to $2.76 but are down moderately so far today. The rally was driven by forecasts for warmer weather into mid-June which may boost cooling demand.
• US gas inventory data for last week are released later today and a 92 bcf rise is forecast, according to Bloomberg. Current levels are 26.5% above the 5-year average.
• North Asian gas fell 1.2% yesterday to be down 1.5% this week.
• See MNI Gas Market Weekly.