The TTF and NCG natural gas contracts danced in opposite directions Wednesday, with the spot and the curve contracts mixed. Norwegian flows ramped up slightly into continental Europe, amid less unplanned works, while colder forecast temperatures and higher crude futures weighed on the contracts, traders said.
Dutch H-cal exports increase to Belgium, Germany
Dutch storage injections rise at Bergermeer
Near-term temps to cool end of week to 2-4 C below norms
The market focus however remained on Brent crude, with the OPEC meeting due Friday to potentially trigger higher production volumes, one German-based trader said. In the meantime, the market remained calm with the volatility index, VIX down 3.90% to $12.83/share Wednesday at 1130 GMT, the CBOE said.
S&P Global Platts news feature: OPEC Influencers interactive chart
Norwegian flows to the Dutch-German border Emden-Dornum rose 2 million cu m/d Wednesday to 132 million cu m/d, Norwegian gas operator Gassco showed.
Norwegian natural gas flows to continental Europe rose slightly as a maintenance pressuring flows at the Gullfaks gas field ended. Unplanned works at the Kollsnes and Kristin gas hubs in the North Sea continued to impact within-day flows by 14 million cu m/d and 12.2 million cu m/d respectively. The expected duration of the maintenance remained uncertain, the operator said.
Temperatures in Amsterdam and Berlin were set to support spot prices throughout the end of week as they were expected to fall back below seasonal norms, by 2-4 degrees Celsius, CustomWeather forecast.
The TTF spot fell 15 euro cent/MWh to Eur22.05/MWh at 1100 GMT, while the prompt month rose 2.5 euro cent/MWh to Eur21.675/MWh. Meanwhile, NCG spot prices fell 5 euro cent/MWh to Eur22.05/MWh.
Storage injections rose on the day with Dutch H-cal injections up to 10.6 million cu m/d from 7.4 million cu m/d at Bergermeer, while injections at other Dutch injection points remained unchanged, data from S&P Global Platts Analytics showed.
Work on the UK-Belgium Interconnector lasting until June 28 led to a ramp-up in Dutch H-cal export flows to Belgium. Dutch flows to the country rose to 7.5 million cu m/d from 5.7 million cu m/d at the sGravenvoeren border point.
Further, Dutch H-cal exports to Germany rose to 8.8 million cu m/d from 7.9 million cu m/d, the data showed.
The Netherlands' indigenous L-cal gas production rose to 52.8 million cu m/d, from 52.4 million cu m/d Tuesday.
