Pricewatch | 04 Mar 2022 | Gas Matters Today

European gas prices closed lower on Thursday after hitting intraday record highs.

The front-month TTF and NBP contracts raced to intraday record highs on Thursday before cooling off during the afternoon. The Dutch marker hit EUR 199.99/MWh (~USD 64.9/MMBtu) before settling at the equivalent of USD 52.11/MMBtu. NBP topped GBP(pence) 465/th (~USD 62.34/MMBtu) and then fell significantly to close at USD 51.16/MMBtu.

The rally was pinned on supply concerns amid the intensifying war in Ukraine. Thursday saw Ukraine’s Energy Ministry announce a ban on exports of domestic gas production and gas held in the country’s storage sites – much of which is held by Western European firms. The order does not apply to the transit of Russian gas – flows of which dropped only slightly on Thursday compared to the previous day.

The European carbon price also fell, closing 1.7% lower at EUR 67.09/tonne.

While European gas prices slumped, Asian LNG marker JKM closed 13.2% higher at USD 43.6/MMBtu – cutting the TTF-JKM spread to USD 8.51/MMBtu.

Oil also dipped after hitting highs not seen in 10 years. Brent hit USD 119.84/barrel and then fell to close at USD 110.46/barrel. WTI hit its highest level since 2008, topping USD 116/barrel, and then falling to close at USD 107.67/barrel.

Front-month futures and indexes at last close with day-on-day changes (click to enlarge):

Time references based on London GMT. Brent, WTI, NBP, TTF and EU CO2 data from ICE. Henry Hub, JKM and API2 data from CME. Prices in USD/MMBtu based on exchange rates at last market close. All monetary values rounded to nearest whole cent/penny. Text and graphic copyright © Gas Strategies, all rights.