Energy Central-News Article

KYIV. Sept 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Spot prices for gas in Europe have been rising rather rapidly despite high output rates from wind power plants and large reserves in underground storage facilities, with gas having risen to $480 per thousand cubic meters, which is the highest cost since the end of August.

The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Gazprom today to transport 41.8 million cubic meters of gas through the country, and the figure was 41.8 mcm yesterday, data from the GTSOU show.

Capacity was requested only through one of two entry points into Ukraine's Gas Transmission System, the Sudzha metering station. A request was not accepted through the Sokhranivka metering station.

Wind turbines provided an average of 21% of the region's electricity needs yesterday, remaining higher than the usual figure for this time of year, with the figure having been 13.5% in September 2022 and 13% in August 2023, according to WindEurope.

The day-ahead contract at the Dutch TTF gas hub in the Netherlands closed at $445 per thousand cubic meters, with the spot price having risen 3% on Friday, and growth reaching $480 per 1,000 cubic meters on Monday morning.

There is a noticeable split between LNG prices in Asia and those in Europe. In Asia, the most expensive futures contract for November on the JKM Platts index is $521 per 1,000 cubic meters, and futures under the LNG North-West Europe Marker are $456 per 1,000 cubic meters.

The level of natural gas reserves in Europe has become a key indicator for the global market, with the region overall continuing to pump gas into underground gas storage (UGS) facilities. However, offtake is increasing as well, thus net injection is already nearly zero and is near net withdrawal, with France having already reached net offtake of gas.

Current inventory levels in Europe's UGS facilities are 94.74%, which is 9 percentage points above the average for the same date over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Inventories increased 0.16 percentage point during the weekend gas day for September 23, with the pace still markedly lagging the usual injection levels over the past five years. Nevertheless, reserves have already reached well above the target level of 90% storage.

European LNG terminals operated at an average capacity of 50% in August, and they have averaged 49% since the beginning of September.

The state of reserves in UGS facilities in the United States is of increasing importance for the global market, as the country is actively increasing gas exports.

The U.S. continues the season for injecting gas into UGS facilities. Inventories rose 1.8 billion cubic meters for the latest reporting week, which is 25% lower than the standard volume for this time of the year.

The current level of inventories is 68%, which is 6 percentage points higher than the average figure for the past five years, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

2023-09-25 13:53:46 Interfax-Ukraine