A lot can change in a year. Where the gas market was turned upside down last year, peace has now returned a long way. Some American analysts are even talking about an ailing market. The role of gas in the energy market is far from over, according to a major American oil company.
The gas quotation on the TTF has been rising again in recent days. Earlier this week, the price fell below €30 per MWh. Today (Wednesday, August 9) the TTF stands at €32,60 per MWh. Compared to last year, the gas price is still not too bad. At that time, the TTF was well above €200 per MWh.
Maintenance work, both planned and unplanned, at Norway's natural gas production and transport facilities largely determines the mood on the European gas market. At the moment, the supply is running fairly smoothly and that brings a certain degree of calm to the gas market.
Full storage
In the EU we have learned something from the scarcity that the gas market was experiencing this time last year. The European gas storage facilities are very well filled compared to last year. The filling level is now approximately 87%. For comparison: in the previous ten years the filling rate at this time was 71%. This is partly due to the high prices last winter, which meant less gas was used. European importers have also taken various emergency measures and bought LNG on the world market at premium prices. The final stock after the winter was therefore relatively large after the winter season. Because the European gas supply is relatively large, the demand for LNG on the world market is declining somewhat and the price is falling. American analysts are even talking about an ailing market with prices around cost price. It is mainly Asian buyers who can now benefit from this.
However, oil and gas company ExxonMobil remains confident in LNG in the longer term, Andrew Barry, vice president and responsible for ExxonMobile's LNG division, told Nikkei Asia. The company wants to double its LNG capacity to more than 40 million tons by 2030. Gas is relatively clean compared to coal or other fossil fuels and Barry expects demand for LNG from Asia and Europe to grow due to the war in Ukraine.
Energy security is once again in the spotlight. Exxon wants to achieve growth in the gas division by participating in projects in Qatar, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. The American oil giant also wants to build LNG plants in Texas and Qatar together with state oil company Qatar Energy.