Natural Gas Market - Page 5

Quarterly report – Natural gas prices

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– In Asia, the average price of gas imports to Japan has risen since year-end 2017 in step with the uptrend in the oil price. LNG spot prices are under pressure and approaching those of oil-indexed contracts.

– These conditions have affected the European market, where price levels for Q2 and Q3 are relatively high.

– In the U.S., the Henry Hub price was lower in Q2 than Q1, due to the magnitude of U.S. natural gas output.

Globally, based on current information, average 2018 prices look to be up sharply in Europe (+36%) and Asia (+30-40%), but down in the United States (-3%).

Figure 1: 2017-19 gas price, by quarter: United Kingdom, Japan and the United States ($/MBtu and €/MWh)


Global trends

GLOBAL NATURAL GAS DEMAND GROWS BY 1.4%/YEAR BETWEEN 2016 AND 2040, WITH CHINA LEADING THE GROWTH

Posted in Analysis, Natural Gas Market, Outlook on

CEDIGAZ, the International Association for Natural Gas, has just released its « Medium and Long Term Natural Gas Outlook 2018 ». In CEDIGAZ Reference Scenario, which incorporates national energy plans and INDC commitments, natural gas demand will grow by 1.4%/year between 2016 and 2040 and will play a growing role in the energy mix at the expense of the other fossil fuels. The gradual shift from coal and oil to natural gas and renewables helps reduce the carbon intensity of the energy system as electrification and decarbonisation accelerate over the projection period. The expansion of natural gas markets is supported by both abundant and competitive conventional and unconventional resources, as well as a very rapid growth of spot and flexible LNG trade.

Quarterly report on Natural gas prices (Q1 2018)

Posted in International Gas Prices, Natural Gas Market, Natural Gas Prices on

Global trends

Gas prices rose in Q1, mainly owing to a harsh winter (Fig. 1). Since then, they have declined, as is usually the case in spring and summer. The gas prices in Europe and Japan should be higher this year than last year, due to the uptrend in the oil price and its impact on Asian oil-indexed contracts and winter spot prices. For this summer, the increase in the CO2 price in Europe (+110% in one year) has created a higher reference for the gas price. These trends do not pertain to the U.S. market, where the price has tended to remain stable or fall.

Gas price, by quarter: U.K., Japan and the U.S. ($/MBtu and €/MWh)

Spot price ($/MBtu and €/MWh)