European gas prices increased strongly yesterday, ignoring the continuation of Russia pipeline gas exports to Western Europe (which even increased to 258 mm cm/day yesterday, compared to 247 mm cm/day on Monday). The market seems to realize that Russia is not just a major pipeline exporter but also the world’s fourth largest LNG exporter (behind…
The price of Brent crude oil rose by more than $7.5/b yesterday, its second biggest daily gain in the last decade. And it continues to rise this morning; it has already exceeded $113/b. WTI is following suit, also over $110/b, and the API data ahead of today’s EIA stocks report is not likely to calm things…
We were trying to find explanations for the wait-and-see attitude of the markets yesterday. It didn’t take long for this attitude to be shattered: energy prices literally soared as the fighting in Ukraine intensified. This led to a rally in the bond markets and the dollar and a plunge in the equity markets. This has been particularly the…
The change of reference contract has brought Brent 1st-nearby back below $100/b, but it has already resumed its march back through that level. There is a special meeting of the International Energy Agency today, giving credence to the now quasi-official rumour of a possible 60mb release, half from US strategic reserves, half from a collection of OECD…
European gas prices were very volatile yesterday, torn between the continuation of Russian gas exports (which averaged 247 mm cm/day yesterday, compared to 248 mm cm/day on Friday) and the tightening of sanctions (including the blocking of certain Russian banks’ access to the SWIFT international payment system) which suggests that at some point these exports…
