NATGAS: Mid-Day Gas Summary: TTF Stabilises

TTF front month has stabilised after a decline to new lows of the month at €34.67/MWh yesterday. European fundamentals are coping despite current pipeline supply cuts and US LNG supply risks due to a hurricane in the US Gulf. 

• TTF OCT 24 up 0.6% at 35.51€/MWh
• Norwegian pipeline supplies to Europe are today nominated at 192.8mcm/d, according to Bloomberg. Gassco shows outages of 175.4mcm/d today rising slightly to 181.9mcm/d tomorrow.
• European gas storage edges up to 93.09% full on Sep 9 according to GIE compared to the five-year average of 86.55% with injections rates still below normal.
• Below normal temperatures are expected in NW Europe in the coming days before slowly recovering back towards seasonal normal levels or just above after the middle of the month.
• Most US LNG export capacity will be outside Hurricane Francine’s path, although Calcasieu Pass (14bcm/year) and Cameron (18bcm/year) remain in potential disruption range, according to Eikland Energy.
• Freeport LNG said it had begun storm preparations at its Texas plant without providing details.
• About 26% of natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico was offline due to the hurrican, BSEE said Sep. 11.
• LNG stockpiles held by Japanese utilities increased 14.2% w/w to 2.09m tons in the week to Sept. 8, according to data released by the trade ministry.
• The Japanese government is considering measures to assist companies to enter long term LNG purchase contracts potentially of around 10 years, according to NHK cited by Reuters.
• Turkey will sign a new LNG supply deal following its deal with Shell last week according to Energy & Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar speaking with local news.