Dutch and British wholesale gas declined on Tuesday morning as Australia’s industrial relations tribunal set a court date for next week to rule on LNG strike action and wind output is expected to increase.
The Dutch October contract TRNLTTFMc1 was down by 0.70 euro at 35.70 euros per megawatt hour by 0746 GMT, while the UK day-ahead price was 1.50 pence lower at 91.00 pence per therm, according to LSEG Eikon data.
The dispute between Chevron CVX.N and workers at its two liquefied natural facilities (LNG) in Australia will be heard by Australia’s industrial relations tribunal on Sept. 22, potentially offering a resolution to planned strike action.
Workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities started work stoppages last Friday, and the unions will will move to two weeks of 24-hour strikes from Thursday.
Analysts at Engie EnergyScan said European gas stocks remain at high levels and demand is below normal, reducing the risk of price spikes from lower Australian LNG flows.
Wind generation in Britain and north-west Europe is also expected to jump this week, which could lower demand for gas from power plants.
Peak wind generation in Britain is forecast at around 10.1 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday, up from 6.4 GW today, Elexon data showed.
On the bullish side, analysts at ING Research said extended maintenance at Norwegian gas fields could be a driver.
Norwegian flows are currently around 135 million cubic metres (mcm) a day, down from around 330 mcm/day in mid-August, they added.
Feedgas flows to Freeport LNG, the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, dropped over the weekend by around 70% and has yet to return as of this morning, LSEG data showed.
“With the UK a major destination for Freeport cargoes, the news of the drop in supply is like to support an upside to the day-ahead price,” said LSEG gas analyst Timothy Crump.
“There is one new cargo arrival expected in the next week into Isle of Grain which makes a sum total of 2 cargoes expected in UK ports over the next two weeks,” he added.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was up by 0.66 euros at 82.18 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nina Chestney)