Gas transit through Ukraine increased again after completing the usual weekend decline – to the standard level.
UKRAINIAN TRANSIT
“Ukraine’s GTS Operator (OGTSU) accepted a 42.4 million cubic meters transit request from Gazprom for Tuesday, the Ukrainian company said. The nomination for Monday was 40 million cubic meters. The capacity is claimed for only one of the two entry points into the country’s GTS, the Sudzha gas metering station. No bid was accepted for the corridor through the Sohranovka gas metering station.
EUROPEAN MARKET
Electricity generation from wind turbines in Europe last week already accounted for 21% of the region’s needs. Monday’s figure is roughly the same (20.8 percent), according to the WindEurope Association.
On Monday the price of gas rose by 4%. The day-ahead contract at the TTF hub in the Netherlands closed at $481 per thousand cubic meters.
The gap in LNG prices in Asia compared to Europe is noticeable. The May JKM Platts futures (Japan Korea Marker, reflecting the spot market value of cargoes shipped to Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan) traded at $447; the North West Europe LNG futures (LNG North West Europe Marker) was $426.
RESERVES IN EUROPE
Europe’s current gas reserve level is 56.02%, 22 percentage points above the average for the same dates over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
Gas reserves rose by a symbolic 0.05 percentage points on the weekend of March 26. The inventory build-up has continued for five days in a row.
European LNG receiving terminals operated at an average capacity of 63 percent in February and have been showing 66 percent utilization since early March. US STORAGE STOCK.
The state of U.S. UGS inventories is becoming increasingly important to the global market as the country actively ramps up exports.
During the next reporting week, reserves dropped by 2 bln cubic meters – a noticeable increase (60%) from the normal level at that time.
The current inventory level is 39%, 23 percentage points above the average for the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Freeport LNG, the largest U.S. LNG plant, has restarted all three liquefaction lines. This reduces the surplus gas in the U.S. market and increases global supply.
