Natgas End of Day Summary: TTF Extends Losses Amid Strike threat

The TTF front month has pulled back amid uncertainty over industrial action at Chevron’s LNG sites.

• TTF SEP 23 down -8.2% at 35.26€/MWh
• TTF WIN 23 up 4.5% at 49.44€/MWh
• Australian Strikes: Chevron's two LNG production facilities in Australia - Gorgon and Wheatstone – that account for more than 5% of global LNG capacity, could face daily work stoppages of up to 10 hours next week after unions on Tuesday threatened labour action if wages and conditions are not met. Workers at the two facilities plan to stop work for seven hours in two blocks on September 7, escalating to 10 hours on September 8 and 11 hours on September 9 according to Reuters reports. A smaller stoppage of three hours is planned at the Wheatstone production platform from September 7, it reported with planned action out till the 14th of September.
• Norwegian nominated flows to the UK and Northwest Europe terminals fell to 181.3mcm/d today, as maintenance at the Troll field and Kollsnes facilities ramped up last weekend. Flows stood just above 300mcm/d in early last week.
• European gas storage was 93% full on Aug. 27 vs the 5-yr seasonal norm of 80% for this time of year, GIE data showed.
• ICIS has updated its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG forecast to capture 1 week of strike action. The initial ICIS analyst estimate is that during this time there is a 20% cut in output.
• The total volume of LNG cargoes on the water for at least 20 days rose by 8.8% on the week, according to Bloomberg.
• LNG flows to North West Europe on Aug. 26 were 175.66 mcm/d, 17% higher than the 30 day average.
• Global weekly LNG imports rose 8% in the week to Aug. 27, reaching 7.7 million metric tons, according to BNEF.
• China imported 5.86 million tonnes of LNG in July, down by 1.66% month on month, but up by 23.68% year on year, data from the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) showed.
• Spanish hydropower reserves last week declined again by 1.2 percentage points to 37.6% of capacity in the week to 27 August, data from the Spanish Ecological Transition and Demographics Ministry showed.
• The Latvian government has abandoned plans to build an LNG terminal at the Port of Skulte, according to Argus, citing the Latvian Energy Minister.
• Hungary and Slovenia have agreed to construct a gas inter-connector with annual capacity of 440mcm, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.