Europe Gas: Prices at fresh 15-month high amid cold weather, restocking concerns
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was up down 0.78 euro at 51.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $15.80/mmBtu, by 0948 GMT, its highest level since mid October 2023, according to LSEG data.
The Dutch March contract was up 0.50 euro at 52.22 euros/MWh.
In Britain, the front-month contract rose by 2.25 pence to 132.00 p/therm.
Demand for gas for heating is up 766 gigawatt hours per day (GWh/d) for the day-ahead, 73 GWh/d for the weekend and 43 GWh/for working days next week, due to an average temperature drop of around 3 degrees Celsius, LSEG data showed.
"Concerns about rapidly declining gas storage levels has seen countries working to ensure refills, with Germany proposing subsidies and Italy preparing an early start to seasonal storage," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ bank.
EU members are required to have storage levels at 90% full by November, However, this year they will face stiff competition from other consumers amid tightness in the global LNG market, he added.
EU gas storage levels were 54.65% full on Friday, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.
"There could be some softening from current high prices if February brings milder weather. However the market is set to plateau at quite a strong level across most of the spring and summer as Europe continues competing with Asia for flexible LNG to refill its storage," said Alex Froley, LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened on Friday to block the next rollover of EU sanctions against Russia unless Brussels helps achieve a restart of Russian gas transit via Ukraine, which was halted on Jan. 1.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down 0.60 euro at 82.35 euros a metric ton.
(Reporting By Marwa Rashad; Editing by Nina Chestney)
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