Wholesale prices hold firm amid healthy storage levels

Gas prices held steady at the NBP on Friday, with only minor price movements posted in each direction.

Robust supply fundamentals along with a lack of major developments concerning either Russia or the Middle East may have helped to dampen volatility across energy markets.

Plentiful storage in both the EU and the UK continue to help relieve the pressure. The latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows that aggregated EU storage facilities are now 89.4% full, which means the bloc is already teetering on the edge of its target of 90% fullness by 1st November. Storage levels in the UK are equally reassuring, with the latest data from National Gas indicating that total stocks stand at circa 27.5 TWh (almost 80% full) which is 12% higher than the same date last year – helping to sure up supplies ahead of winter.

In other news, Russia has filed a complaint against Germany regarding the recent developments surrounding the Nord Stream incident in 2022 which resulted in the permanent shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 & 2 pipelines. Russia alleges that Germany and other EU countries failed to fulfil UN counter-terrorism obligations by failing to register the yet unlocated Ukrainian national (suspected of planting explosives off the Baltic coast) on an EU wide criminal database before he had fled from neighbouring Poland. Russia’s state-owned Gazprom had a 51% majority stake in the gas pipelines, which were the longest in the world when operational.

This morning, the majority of NBP contracts have opened at a slight discount when compared to their previous close, with the Winter 24 front-season contract currently being offered circa 0.5p/therm (0.017p/kWh) below its previous settlement at time of writing.

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Price commentary courtesy of Crown Gas and Power