Mid-Day Gas Summary: TTF Eases Back

TTF front month is easing back after strong gains seen yesterday. The market continues to weigh curtailed supplies from Norwegian maintenance against muted LNG demand.

• TTF JUN 24 down 0.1% at 31.75€/MWh
• TTF Q3 24 down 0.1% at 32.5€/MWh
• Norwegian pipeline supplies to Europe are today nominated down at 178.9mcm/d with works today at Troll and Kollsnes. Gassco data shows total outages of 177mcm/d today declining back to around 55mcm/d later this week.
• Temperatures in NW and central Europe are still forecasts to hold above normal throughout the two-week outlook and into the start of June.
• Total European gas storage is still near the high end of the seasonal range at 67.15% full on May 19 according to GIE compared to the five-year seasonal average of 53.1%.
• The total estimated quantity of LNG on tankers that have not unloaded for at least 20 days fell by 7.7% over the last week to 3.45m tons as of May 19, according to Bloomberg estimates.
• Global LNG imports remained relatively flat in the week to May 19 at 7.44m metric tons, according to BNEF.
• China’s natural gas imports could rise to climb 300bcm and match domestic supply capacity to cover half of total demand which could plateau around 600bcm a year over 2035-2040, according to CNPC’s Economics and Technology Research Institute cited by Bloomberg.
• A moratorium on new US LNG export projects could create opportunities for producers in the Middle East and Russia, Woodside’s CEO Meg O’Neill said, cited by Reuters.