Energy markets remain in the grip of Trump. On the oil market, uncertainty after new statements about Ukraine causes a slight increase. Meanwhile, disruptions in Norway cause a higher gas price and electricity remains relatively cheap due to strong production from renewable sources.
The oil price has seen a slight increase. Compared to a week ago, the price on Thursday, May 29, was 0,9% higher. The price came to $64,27 per barrel.
Market sentiment is slightly down to stable, partly due to speculation that OPEC+ may decide to further increase oil production during today's meeting. There is talk of an increase of around 411.000 barrels per day in July. The economic media reports that the cartel will most likely reach an agreement on this decision this week. Although it is suspected that production will not be increased immediately, the position of the proponents is gaining strength. It is reported that 8 of the 22 members have now spoken out in favor of an increase.
However, the price decline remained limited, partly due to the difficult negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. The market reacted on Tuesday to statements by US President Trump, who expressed his frustration with Russian President Putin because of the deadlock in the peace negotiations in Ukraine. This led to a slight increase in the oil price. Trump hinted at possible new sanctions against Moscow, which could be announced this week. In the meantime, the US government has banned energy giant Chevron from exporting Venezuelan oil. This puts further pressure on the supply.
Diesel is rising
The price of diesel has also taken a step down. The price decreased by 1% to €117,45 per 100 liters.
Gas price rises
The TTF gas price has increased by 0,6% compared to last week and is now trading at €36,87 per megawatt hour.
The market remained quite volatile. Looking back a bit further, there is a clear increase. This increase is due to growing concerns about gas supply disruptions. Unexpected capacity reductions at the important Norwegian Troll gas field are putting pressure on the market. The disruption is due to problems with the power supply to the pumping stations. This comes on top of planned maintenance at other key gas fields, such as Nyhamna and Aasta Hansteen.
Energy company Equinor reported on Monday that a partial outage at the Troll gas field has been extended until May 30, following a new compressor failure, according to an official announcement on the website of gas grid operator Gassco. The outage began after an annual test on May 21 and is resulting in a loss of 34,6 million cubic meters per day, bringing the field’s remaining capacity to 90 million cubic meters per day. The disruption is hampering efforts to fill gas reserves: European gas storages are currently only 46,9% full, while the average fill level at this time of year is around 51%.
Electricity stable
Meanwhile, the electricity price remains fairly stable, although increased solar activity over the weekend is causing deeper price drops. For example, on Sunday 25 May, the price dropped again to €18,58 per megawatt hour.
Renewable sources are clearly putting pressure on the electricity price. Since April 23, electricity prices have not exceeded €100 per megawatt hour. The sunny spring weather is proving very favorable for production. This week, a lot of renewable energy was generated again. Now that the sun is showing itself a little less, wind turbines are catching up on the reduced solar production.
In total, 39,3% of all electricity was generated by solar energy. Wind energy accounted for 28,3% of production. Total generation from renewable sources amounted to 68,6%. As a result of this considerable production from sustainable sources, only 20,1% of electricity was supplied by natural gas power stations. Of this, no less than 11% was intended for export. Meanwhile, coal-fired power stations remained virtually unused.