26 April 2024
Pricewatch | 6 Aug 2020 | Gas Matters Today
Publication date: 06 August 2020
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Crude oil prices notched up yet more gains yesterday on US data showing surprising large crude inventory drawdowns at the end of July. WTI briefly surpassed USD 43/barrel before paring back to USD 42.19/barrel, a gain of 1.2%. Brent rose 1.7% to hit USD 45.17/barrel.
Both represent highs not seen since the beginning of March 2020, when Saudi Arabia and Russia embarked on a brief price war that cratered prices and even sent WTI into negative territory. A Reuters analyst yesterday quoted a senior Gulf OPEC source as saying Saudi deliberately slowed crude exports to the US to lower crude stocks “as a gentle reminder” of the kingdom’s market power.
UK and continental European gas hubs paused for breath yesterday after an intense rally that nearly doubled the price of front-month contracts in just three trading sessions. UK NBP slowed its ascent to 0.8% to close at USD 2.62/MMBtu while Dutch TTF fell 0.5%, but thanks to foreign exchange effects this registered as a 0.6% rise to USD 2.55/MMBtu.
US gas benchmark Henry Hub was virtually unchanged, and CME’s JKM futures were gained 1.7% to close at USD 2.73/MMBtu.
The European carbon price could not sustain Tuesday’s gains into yesterday’s session, as the month-ahead futures contract for ETS carbon allowances (EUAs) fell 0.2% to close at EUR 26.71/tonne.
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 reserved.