Dutch parliament told natural gas storage levels ‘concerning’ as benchmark price hits $39 per MMBtu
A Dutch parliamentary committee has been told that natural gas storage levels in the Netherlands were well short of capacity and the situation is a matter of concern, though not considered a crisis.
Oil and LNG rise
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.
