Dutch and British wholesale gas prices inched up on Friday morning on forecasts for colder temperatures and less wind from next week. The Dutch January contract TRNLTTFMc1 edged up by 0.30 euro to 40.75 euros per megawatt hour by 0931 GMT, LSEG data showed. The contract briefly hit 37.08 euros/MWh, a two-month low on Tuesday but has since rebounded. The British contract for the weekend TRGBNBPWE rose by 1.50 pence to 97.00 pence per therm. Temperatures in Britain and north-west Europe are forecast to increase tomorrow but then fall again ...

Asia’s naphtha markets gained about 22% this week due to weakness in crude oil benchmarks, although the upside was limited due to poor demand. The crack rose by about $2 to $86.03 per metric ton over Brent crude on Friday, and the second-half January naphtha price jumped by $7.75 to $653.25 per ton. Traders said the volatility in naphtha cracks was driven by price action in crude oil markets and the demand from petrochemical unit will likely remain subdued this month. In gasoline markets, the crack rose to $9.87 per ...

Prices for liquefied natural gas in Asia rose to their steepest premium over European prices for two years this week as congestion at the Panama Canal drove up the price of shipping U.S. LNG to Asia. Ships are facing long wait times at the Panama Canal as a severe drought hits reservoirs key to the operation of one of the world’s most important maritime channels. The delays have driven up transport costs for container vessels, ships carrying grains and oil and gas tankers. That is forcing LNG cargoes from the ...

Working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 United States ended the natural gas injection season at 3,776 billion cubic feet (Bcf), according to estimates based on data from our Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on November 16. The Lower 48 states will enter the winter heating season, which runs from November 1–March 30, with the most natural gas in storage since 2020. In addition, we now have 5% more natural gas in U.S. inventories entering the winter heating season than the previous five-year (2018–22) average, and 7% ...

Asia’s middle distillates markets rose slightly week on week, on both the margins and cash differentials front, as spot market activity for end-December and January parcels started to pick up, though the outlook was mixed. More term contracts were being settled for both gasoil and jet fuel. Premiums for diesel/gasoil were slightly lower year-on-year, reflecting the cautious market outlook among traders. Jet fuel premiums, however, were stable to slightly higher, with strong demand expectations in the market mostly prevalent. On the spot front for gasoil, the market still focussed on ...

ExxonMobil expects the Golden Pass LNG terminal under construction in Texas to start producing LNG in the first half of 2025, executives said Dec. 6, representing a delay from the previous timeline for bringing the facility online in late 2024. The company, which provided the new timeline for the project with the release of its updated corporate plan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the reason for the delay. ExxonMobil is building the project, which will have a peak capacity of about 18.1 million mt/year, with ...

Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin extended gains on Thursday after underlying prices plunged by $16 due to volatility in crude oil benchmarks. The crack rose by $2.57 to $84.20 per metric ton over Brent crude. The backwardation in naphtha markets rose by 50 cents to $15 per ton. Analysts said weak economic indicators from China could weigh on the already negative sentiment in petrochemical markets. China’s crude oil imports in November fell 9.2% year-on-year, customs data showed on Thursday, in the first annual decline since April due to weakened demand. ...

Asia’s middle distillates markets recorded more term negotiations as some buyers sought first-half 2024 arrival cargoes in the region, though the pace of spot market activity was almost similar to the previous session. Spot activity is likely to gain momentum again in the next few days as some refiners finish their contractual negotiations for next year, two trade sources said. A large part of the market remained cautious about next year’s demand-supply fundamentals, given rising supply availability expectations. Refining margins for 10ppm sulphur gasoil closed the trading session at slightly ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices continued to rebound on Thursday from a two-month low hit earlier this week on a downward revision of temperatures, while healthy inventories and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows limited the upside. The Dutch January contract TRNLTTFMc1 rose by 1.25 euros to 40.50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1008 GMT, LSEG data showed, rising for a second day in a row since Tuesday, when the contract briefly hit 37.08 euros/MWh, its lowest level since Oct. 6. The Dutch day-ahead gas contract TRNLTTFD1 was up ...

Greece and Paneuropean Oil & Industrial Holdings were expected to sell around a combined 10% stake in Greece’s biggest oil refiner Helleniq Energy HEPr.AT via a book-building process on Thursday, a source from the country’s privatisation agency said. Paneuropean Oil, owned by the Latsis family, now holds 47% in Helleniq, with Greece’s privatisation agency HRADF owning 35.5%. The rest of the shares are publicly traded. “The books for the private placement of a stake of about 10% will most probably open and close today,” a senior HRADF official told Reuters ...

Cracking margins for Asia’s middle distillates rose for the second consecutive trading session against a backdrop of softer crude futures and thinner spot activity in the open trading market. January-loading cargoes were still being discussed at a discount differential of 20 cents to 40 cents a barrel, some trade sources said，referring to the northeast Asia-origin spot lots. Cash differentials slipped into a deeper discount for the first time in this trading week, reflecting the flattish swaps market. Refining margins for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil rose slightly to above $22.50 a ...

Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin rebounded on Wednesday after underlying prices fell in tandem with weakness in crude oil benchmarks. The crack jumped by about $5 to $81.45 per metric ton over Brent crude. The second-half January naphtha rice traded $14.50 per ton higher than the following month in backwardation structure. In physical markets, energy trader Vitol bought 25,000 tons of naphtha from BP at $654 per ton, market players said. O/AS Analysts and traders said the fluctuation in cracks is not supported by fundamentals in Asia and margins are ...

European natural gas and coal-fired power generation continued to fall in November in a year on year comparison, with 2023 on track to be the lowest gas output year since 2018, while coal output could be the lowest on record in recent times, system data show. Gas-fired power generation across Europe’s five biggest power markets in November fell 19% year on year, while coal plunged 31%. Declines for gas were led by Spain, France, Spain, Great Britain and Italy, with only German gas registering a small year on year increase. ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose marginally in a technical rebound on Wednesday after hitting a two-month low in the previous session, amid weather forecasts in line with the seasonal norm and strong supply. The Dutch January contract rose by 1.05 euro to 39.20 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0913 GMT, LSEG data showed. On Tuesday, the contract briefly hit 37.08 euros/MWh, its lowest level since Oct. 6. The potential for a technical rebound remains on the cards, LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said in a morning report. “However, ...

Asia boosted clean electricity output and slashed its share of fossil fuels faster than North America and Europe from 2015, data shows, underscoring resistance by Asian nations to a western push to choke private financing for coal-fired power. There is wide agreement that increasing clean power, such as wind and solar, is central to curbing carbon emissions to fight climate change. On Saturday at the U.N. climate summit, 118 governments, led by the U.S. and the European Union, pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. However, China ...