Front-month Spanish AOC natural gas prices dropped below Eur19/MWh in week 1 in thin volumes following the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Prices for February delivery averaged Eur18.2/MWh in week 1 compared with December's average of Eur19.67/MWh for delivery in January, Platts data showed.
Volumes were diluted further by an additional national holiday mid-week. However, front-month prices fell from those in December for January delivery with a confirmed trade for the February AOC contract at Eur18.25/MWh on Tuesday for a volume of 1 GWh/day.
Although front-month prices remained steady in the second half of the week, there was some bearish movement on the prompt with an unconfirmed offer heard for the day-ahead contract at Eur18/MWh Thursday. This followed an unconfirmed trade of Eur19/MWh just two days earlier.
The downward trend continued further out on the near curve with an unconfirmed trade reported for March delivery at Eur17.50/MWh for a volume of 1 GWh/d.
This was in contrast to the bullish trend on neighboring gas markets this week. The TRS January 16 contract gained Eur1 throughout week 1 to Eur16.4/MWh Thursday, less than Eur2 below the AOC front-month contract.
The slight uptick on the Dutch TTF market also caused the AOC front-month premium to the TTF month-ahead contract narrow slightly to Eur3.17/MWh from Eur3.61/MWh at the end of 2015.
Spanish gas demand during the week was a low 5.6 TWh, while LNG sendout into the grid during the week was down 20% year on year to its lowest in eight weeks, according to data from Enagas.
Most of Spain's weekly demand was met by pipeline imports, which totaled 3.9 TWh, an increase of 6% year on year.
GAS FUNDAMENTALS
Algerian gas imports into Spain saw a slight uptick in the first week of the year to average 47.55 million cu m/day in the week to Thursday, according to data from Eclipse Energy, an analytics unit of Platts, up from 45.95 million cu m/d in week 53.
Imports of French gas across the Pyrenees were steady week on week at 12.25 million cu m/day in the week to Thursday, while gas flows to Portugal rose slightly to average 8.85 million cu m/d from 8.05 million cu m/d in week 53, Eclipse figures showed.
Nominations of net imports via pipeline were set to increase slightly to 53.5 million cu m/d in week 2, according to data from Enagas, while LNG sendout rates from Spain's fleet of six regasification terminals were also set to rise week on week with nominations at 28.7 million cu m/d in week 2, above the combined allocation and nominations of 23.5 million cu m/d for week 1.
There are three confirmed arrivals of LNG tankers in Spain in week 2, Eclipse data showed.
The Catalunya Spirit from Qatar, carrying 81.42 million cu m, is due to berth in Mugardos on January 12, with the Gaslog Seattle from Trinidad and Tobago expected on the following day into Bilbao with 93.22 million cu m on board.
The LNG Rivers from Nigeria, carrying 81.03 million cu m, is also scheduled to arrive in Sagunto on January 16, according to Eclipse forecasts.
