Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed on Friday morning as the market awaits news on whether or not the U.S. will impose new sanctions on Russia.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub (TRNLTTFMc1) was down 0.11 euro at 32.92 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $11.20/mmBtu, by 0728 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch October contract (TRNLTTFMc2) was down 0.36 euro at 33.24 euros/MWh.

The British front-month gas price (TRGBNBPMc1) was down 0.29 pence at 81.11 pence per therm, while the British day-ahead contract (TRGBNBPD1) was up 0.25 pence at 78.00 p/therm.

“On the geopolitical front, sentiment is tense. Today marks the deadline for Russia to respond to the U.S. ceasefire ultimatum, with secondary oil tariffs on the table,” LSEG analyst Oleh Skrynyk said

There is also uncertainty over the energy impact from a planned meeting in the coming days between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Oil prices fell on Friday as the latest round of U.S. tariffs weighed on the economic outlook and likely upcoming Trump-Putin talks raised the prospect of an ease in sanctions on Russia.

However, further in, prices should trade sideways or even a touch higher, LSEG’s Skrynyk said.

Gas demand in the power sector is expected to rise next week as wind power generation weakens and a heatwave in France could impact nuclear power generation due to cooling water restrictions, he added.

Meanwhile, supplies from Norway are stable, with 340 million cubic metres (mcm) per day nominated on Friday, data from infrastructure operator Gassco showed.

Europe’s gas storage sites are 70.7% full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows.

Europe continues to make good progress on its stockbuild but current European gas price levels risked liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes being pulled away to Asia and flows to Europe could drop over the coming months, analysts at Energy Aspects said in a note.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was up 0.95 euro at 72.72 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters