Europe Gas-Prices ease as market seeks to assess winter supply outlook
XLE•European carbon prices rise
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was up €1.03 at €84.56 per metric ton.
Asian LNG strength lifts the JKM-TTF spread
Meanwhile, spot Asian LNG, also referred to as the Japan Korea Marker (JKM), traded at its highest levels since 2022, analysts at ING said.
"Amid this strength, the JKM-TTF spread widened again, making it less clear whether flexible cargoes should continue to be sent to Europe," they added.
Supply concerns and LNG competition remain in focus
There was no clear signal from geopolitics or the supply side on Friday morning, but slightly higher gas-for-power demand next week may provide some price support, LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said.
At the same time, a European Commission statement of not seeing immediate risk for gas supply security calmed some nerves on Thursday, he added.
"Under the current circumstances, the Commission sees no reason to intervene. The EU gas system is resilient enough to cope with lower storage levels for the upcoming winter," the Commission's coordination group on gas said.
EU gas storage is currently 65.85% full compared with 78.29% at the same time last year, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.
"We continue to see a greater risk of very high winter prices than of an actual physical gas shortage, which we assess as low probability. However, the safety margin shrinks with every week storage injections lag behind," Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at Global Risk Management, said in a note.
