US gas benchmark Henry Hub extended its gains yesterday, with the front month contract rising 5.1% to hit USD 2.88/MMBtu, its highest closing price since 5 March 2019. The spike was driven by strong resumption in US LNG exports post-Hurricane Delta and forecasts of cooler weather driving heating demand in the early winter months.
The benchmark US Gulf Coast gas price is still trading at a steep discount to European hubs NBP and TTF, which rose marginally in Monday’s session. CME’s November-dated JKM futures contract was unchanged at USD 5.14/MMBtu, its highest settled price since 20 January 2020.
Crude oil prices fell further on Monday on lingering concerns around oversupply and fragile demand in the face of surging Covid-19 infections. Brent closed the session down 2.6% at USD 41.72/barrel and WTI fell 2.9% to USD 39.43/barrel. However, both month-ahead contracts were trading up by around 1.6% on Tuesday morning.
The European carbon price stemmed losses on Monday, as month-ahead ETS allowance (EUA) futures gained 0.6% to close at EUR 25.87/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.
