Supply In Focus With Freeport LNG Resuming But Norwegian Outages

European LNG was weak at the start of the session falling to a low of EUR 31.10 but then trended higher on news of prolonged maintenance and unplanned outages in Norwegian facilities. Europe has become more reliant on Norway since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices finished around EUR 31.89 but were still down 0.9% on the day to be 7.5% lower in July.

• News of the return of some operations at the Texas Freeport LNG facility had weighed on European prices early in the session. Flows are now their highest since Hurricane Beryl but the plant is only gradually resuming activities.
• US natural gas prices rose sharply on Monday up 5.4% to $2.24 but are still down 14% this month. They troughed on July 17 and have been trending higher since, as participants are entering the market to take advantage of low prices. A pipeline outage in Louisiana also boosted prices. Also forecasted warmer weather across most of the country at the start of August supported gas prices.
• North Asian prices fell 1.2% on Monday to be down 3.2% in July but continued hot weather is likely to maintain strong cooling demand.