Gas Summary at European Close: TTF Rises on LNG Delays

Front month TTF is trading higher on the day supported by some delayed LNG arrivals from Qatar due to Red Sea diversions.

• TTF FEB 24 up 5.6% at 28.76€/MWh
• Qatar has informed some European buyers it will delay and reschedule some of its LNG shipments as the diversions away from the Red Sea via the Cape of Good Hope cause longer journey times.
• QatarEnergy confirmed its LNG production continues uninterrupted.
• Temperatures in NW and central Europe are forecast to hold above normal throughout the two-week forecast period although could trend back towards normal after the first few days of February.
• Norwegian pipeline supplies to Europe are slightly lower with nominations for 344.5mcm/d today amid a planned outage at Karsto until Jan 26.
• European natural gas storage is down to 73.93% full on Jan 22 according to GIE data.
• The European energy crisis is over as Europe’s dependency on Russian pipeline gas flows has been replaced, head of research at Repsol, Antonio Merino, said, cited by Montel.
• LNG stockpiles held by Japanese utilities declined by 2.73% last week to 2.49mn tons as of 21 January according to data released by the trade ministry, cited by Bloomberg.
• Japan’s LNG imports fell 8% to 66.2m mt in 2023, the lowest since 2009, according to Reuters citing Ministry of Finance Data.
• MNI COMMODITY WEEKLY: Iranian Escalations Unrestrained by Oil Supply Fears – Full piece here: https://enews.marketnews.com/ct/x/pjJscQSKn74I6a9iJxp0Gg~k1zZ8KXr-kA8x6nDWJ72ptIPjO1OcQ