OIES Podcast – Gas market update
In this latest OIES podcast, recorded by the Gas Research Programme, James Henderson speaks to Mike Fulwood and Jack Sharples about the latest developments in the global gas market. Gas prices have rebounded slightly over the summer to reach $10+/mmbtu in Europe, and a number of new developments are changing the market dynamics. In Europe, flows from Russia have been stable but flows from Norway have been interrupted by extended maintenance. In Asia, demand has been surging in a number of countries, most importantly China but also in large parts of South East Asia. Meanwhile, a threat to supply has emerged in the potential for strikes at LNG plants in Australia, which has worried the market. Despite all this, though, prices have not moved significantly higher, and indeed the level of storage stocks in Europe, which now exceeds 100bcm (over 94% of total capacity), suggests that they could weaken ahead of winter if the weather does not get colder soon. We discuss all these issues in more detail and assess the outlook for the next six months as the northern hemisphere winter approaches.
