May 27, 2024 23:31 GMT
Supply Disruptions Drive Gas Prices Higher
LNG
Natural gas prices rose on Monday in thin trading with both the US and UK closed for holidays. European LNG rose 2.6% to EUR 35.00 after a high of EUR 35.51 to be up over 20% in May. Competition with Asia for available supply with rising cooling demand has been driving prices higher this month. Thus disruptions make the market nervous.
- There have been a number of recent disruptions with unplanned maintenance at Norway’s Kollsnes facility extended, Austria warning that flows from Russia may be cease following a court decision, Australia’s Gorgon facility still impacted by a train outage and Brunei LNG trying to restart a plant shut for 8 days.
- High European storage levels for this time of year reduce the impact of any disruptions. Gas Infrastructure Europe reported that EU storage is 68% full (5-year average 55.3%) with Germany at 72%, Italy 73%, Austria 78%, Spain 87% but France 57% and Poland 53%.
- US natural gas prices rose 0.7% to $2.79 to be over 20% higher in May.
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