Gas prices down on back of good storage levels
Gas prices went down on Thursday on the back of plentiful European storage stocks despite tumbling LNG supply.
The biggest drops of the session were posted at the front-end, with contracts across the near-curve observing modest losses of circa 0.034p/kWh when compared to their previous close.
High storage reserves likely fed into bearish sentiment; according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, aggregate EU storage stood at 62.78% full on 28th February. This is a massive 19% higher than the 10-year average for that date and is a far cry from the measly 29.02% that was recorded back in 2022.
On the other hand, dwindling LNG shipments may have prevented curve contracts from falling any lower. According to data from National Gas, LNG send-out (within session) averaged only circa 26mcm on Thursday which was a decrease of around 40% when compared to the same day last week and can be attributed to dwindling numbers of laden vessels opting to deliver into British terminals.
Gas prices have opened at a slight premium when compared to yesterdays close, with the Summer 24 front-season contract currently being offered circa 0.034p/kWh higher when compared to it’s previous settlement, at time of writing.
In terms of UK’s current electricity demand, if we check the latest half hourly period at the time of writing (13:30 – 14:00), electricity demand is currently 38.58 GW’s in the UK.
In terms of the generation mix, gas is currently generating 7.85 GW’s (19.35%) of the UK’s electricity. Wind power is ahead today, generating 14.20 GW’s (35.04%) of the UK’s total electricity.
If you want to see more information on the wholesale market trends subscribe to our weekly report here.