On Thursday, natural gas prices went down, reversing from gains earned earlier in the day amid diminishing heatwaves in Southern Europe.
Natural gas futures for September deliveries declined by -1.04% to $2.67 per million British thermal units on July 27.
Robust gas inventories have a good pace toward reaching the volume targets of Europe. Its benchmark prices declined by almost 6.00% mid-day.
On Wednesday, the fuel’s value spiked by 5.00% after reports that the Dvalin field offshore Norway’s maintenance would be extended. Prices reached $37.60 per MWh but dropped at the end of the day.
Moreover, higher-than-normal temperatures in Italy are starting to subside. As a result, demand for electricity generation that requires gas is reduced. Also, demand from the industry went lower compared to the past years amid sluggish movements in Europe’s major economies.
Additionally, EU gas inventory levels are higher than the five-year average and last year’s levels from the same period. According to experts, they were 84.00% full on July 24. On the other hand, it decreased concerns about the country’s gas supply.
They added that Europe aims to hit 90.00% complete fuel storage by November 01. Besides reaching the target before schedule, they could fill inventories to 100.00% by early September.
Nonetheless, the EU’s fuel prices could go higher amid the planned maintenance of coastal Norway in August. It would include the Troll gas field, the Vesterled pipeline, and the Kollsnes processing plant.
Shell and TotalEnergies Fell amid Low Gas Prices
Shell and TotalEnergies announced sharp declines from high Q2 earnings due to lower oil and gas prices.
Last year, fuel prices rallied amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, prices aggressively dropped this year as concerns about shortages eased brought by global economic headwinds.
Shell’s shares fell by 1.90% while TotalEnergies dropped by 0.40%, compared to the 1.00% slump. Results were shown in the European index for fuel and gas companies.
According to Wael Sawan, Shell’s CEO, they showed solid operational performance despite weaker commodity prices. On the other hand, TotalEnergies’ CEO Patrick Pouyanne stated the quarter displayed an easing fuel environment.
