March 8 (LNGJ) - North Sea Brent front-month crude oil prices surged to over $70 per barrel, up from $67.30 per barrel at the end of last week. It is the highest oil price since early January 2020 and follows reported drone attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, blamed on Iran-backed Yemeni militia. The oil surge took the effective oil-linked, long-term LNG contract price to over $10 per million British thermal units.
European natural gas prices also increased with the UK National Balancing Point and the continental European Dutch Tittle Transfer facility (TTF) both hitting the equivalent of $5.70 per MMBtu, up from $5.55 per MMBtu on March 5. The Japan-Korea Marker price for April spot LNG cargoes was around $6.00 per MMBtu, according to trading platforms.
