Pricewatch | 27 Apr 2021 | Gas Matters Today

The European carbon price surged to a fresh record high on Monday, with compliance buying once again driving the rally.

The May-dated contract on the EU ETS hit a record EUR 47.13/tonne to start the week, with the benchmark December 2021 contract settling at EUR 47.2/tonne. Compliance buying ahead of the 30 April deadline was once again the main driving force behind the rally.

Gas prices in Europe diverged on Monday, with the front-month NBP contract strengthening further to settle 2.1% higher at the equivalent of USD 7.17/MMBtu. The benchmark European gas marker TTF recorded a marginal loss of 0.1% to settle at the equivalent of USD 7.08/MMBtu.

As for JKM, the Asian LNG marker stopped the rot after recording a 0.6% gain to settle at USD 8.25/MMBtu to start the week.

In the US, Henry Hub remained in the USD 2.7/MMBtu range after recording a 2.2% gain on Monday.

Crude prices fell on Monday amid surging Covid-19 cases India. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, indicated that it is monitoring the rise in Covid-19 cases in India, with the surge expected to hit the nation’s oil demand.

All eyes are on the OPEC+ meeting on Wednesday, with the cartel to discuss its production policy. Earlier this month, OPEC+ agreed to relax production curbs starting next month and increase output by 350,000 barrels/d. The cartel said it would add a further 350,000 barrels/d in June and 400,000 barrels/d in July.  

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.