The Italian PSV average spot price was 30.6% higher on the year in April, data from S&P Global Platts Analytics showed, on higher injection levels and a more bullish energy complex.
* North African imports down, Northwest Europe's rise
* Power generation demand down 15% on year
* Storage injections increase 28% on year
It did however fall 11.2% on the month due to milder temperatures in April than March.
The day-ahead contract averaged Eur21.073/MWh in April.
On the supply side, gas imports from Libya were down 96% on the year at 13 million cu m due to maintenance at the Mellitah gas complex and a technical fault on the Libya-to-Sicily Greenstream pipeline which took gas imports offline from April 2 for the rest of the month.
Imports from Algeria, via Tunisia, were down 25% at 1.104 Bcm due to higher Brent crude prices and the oil-indexing mechanism used to price natural gas from Algeria making imports less attractive.
Despite these falls in supply, total supply was up 4% on the year to 6.102 Bcm as gas flows from Northwest Europe, via Switzerland, rose 142% to 908 million cu m and imports from Russia via Austria rose 15% to 2,998 Bcm.
This was despite significant capacity reductions on both pipelines for some days in April due to planned maintenance.
Total end-user demand fell slightly to 4.452 Bcm, down 1% on the year.
Power generation demand saw the biggest change, falling 15% due to warmer temperatures and more power generation from renewable sources, particularly hydrogeneration.
Industrial and local distribution network, or residential, demand grew 4% to 1.109 Bcm and 9% to 1.833 Bcm respectively.
The whole of the Easter weekend fell within April in 2017, unlike this April, so that would have reduced gas demand to some extent.
The month-ahead contract averaged Eur20.260/MWh in April, up 23.1% on the year.
On the month it failed to follow the spot price downwards, instead rising 4.3% from March's average, buoyed by high prices at the back of the curve.
This was despite traditionally higher temperatures in May than in April and therefore less demand.
Storage injections increased 28% to 1.673 Bcm after high gas withdrawals in March due to persistent cold weather.
Despite this, storage levels were still lower at the end of April 2018 at 7.67 Bcm than last April's level of 8.2 Bcm, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
Accounting for storage injections, total demand rose 5% on the year to 6.126 Bcm.
ITALY SUPPLY/DEMAND BALANCE (million cu m) April-18 April-17 Change (%) Production 410 411 0% LNG imports 636 683 -7% Total pipe imports 5,023 4,733 6% Tunisia 1,104 1,465 -25% Austria 2,998 2,602 15% Libya 13 291 -96% Slovenia 4 0 - Switzerland 908 375 142% Storage (withdrawal) 32 26 25% Total supply 6,102 5,853 4%
Storage (injection) 1,673 1,307 28% Total end user demand 4,452 4,504 -1% Industrial 1,109 1,070 4% LDC 1,833 1,675 9% Power 1,398 1,647 -15% Other end users 112 112 1% Total Demand 6,126 5,811 5%
