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European gas: High supplies push Dutch, German prompt prices lower

https://www.chemnet.com   Apr 27,2015 Platts
Dutch and German gas prices were lower Friday amid healthy natural gas supplies from Russia and North Africa, and from LNG.

By around midday UK time, TTF day-ahead contracts last dealt 10 euro cent lower day on day at Eur21.40/MWh, while corresponding GASPOOL and NetConnect were down 15 euro cent and 17.5 euro cent, respectively, at Eur21.45/MWh and Eur21.375/MWh.

Russian and North African flows remained strong, with oil-linked gas becoming increasingly competitive.

Europe is also looking reasonably competitive against Asia for spot LNG deliveries, according to Platts unit Bentek Energy.


Total imports from Russia to Europe via pipelines was reaching about 350 million cubic meters Friday morning, while total European LNG sendout was about 180 million cu m.

In the Netherlands, the system looked 28 million cu m long as exports declined 21 million cu m day on day to 74 million cu m, with lower flows from Belgium, down 56% to 14 million cu m, while imports increased 6 million cu m to 97 million cu m day on day.

Net exports to Belgium were nominated at 3 million cu m and net exports to Germany were nominated at 16 million cu m.

"However, exports to Belgium may turn out higher in the physical flow rates than in the initial nominations data, which looks quite low based on recent experience," Bentek said.

Dutch production was nominated at 112 million cu m in the morning, according to Bentek, which said this level was much reduced from last year due to Groningen field caps.

"However, it might be possible to turn up Groningen above the current rate and still hold within the cap," it said.

Summer maintenance in Norway continued to affect Norwegian imports to the Dutch market, which stood at 44 million cu m Friday.

In Germany, Russian flows have continued to increase over recent weeks.

The Yamal line through Poland was at maximum capacity of around 82 million cu m/day, while Nord Stream rates have climbed from a season-to-date average of 107 million cu m/day to 123 million cu m/day.

Real-time Norwegian flow rates into Emden-Dornum on the Dutch/German border stood at 88.7 million cu m at around midday London time, network operator Gassco said, which was around 16.3 million cu m down from flow rates the same time Thursday.

CustomWeather forecast Amsterdam temperatures at the normal seasonal high and low of 17/7 degrees Celsius for Friday and Saturday, while Berlin was forecast 2 C above seasonal norms of 19/6 C for the same days.

By about midday UK time, March TTF last dealt 12.5 euro cent down at Eur21.075/MWh, while corresponding GASPOOL and NetConnect were both down 7.5 euro cents at Eur20.975/MWh and Eur21.175/MWh, respectively.
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