Global Natural Gas Prices Observe Record-Level Decline Amid Weak Demand

Hamburg, Germany- Natural Gas prices fell in the global market due to lackluster demand and rising temperature, resulting in less consumption from the downstream enterprises.

In the European market, Natural Gas prices also plunged along with adequate inventories and deteriorating purchasing activities. In the Dutch front-month futures market, trading was shortened by the Easter holidays, which resulted in a loss of almost 10% in price trend. In addition, the United Kingdom prices also fell, increasing its discount to continental Europe. Natural Gas prices in Germany fell by 5.56% over the week ending on 14th April to Euro 42.10 per MW-hr Ex-Hamburg.

With 55.6% of storage units of Natural Gas in the European Union and 64% in Germany, storage units are far above seasonal levels. In contrast, France's storage inventories stand at 28%, and it is unclear when LNG terminals will resume full operations as strikes continue against the pension reform.

In the U.S., weak trading activities and a declining spot purchasing environment had capped the prices from increasing further. With the week ending on 14th April, the price of Natural Gas in the U.S. declines to USD 2.07 per MMBtu. The price of the May 2023 NYMEX contract decreased 6.2 cents to USD 2.093/MMBtu. The Total U.S. Natural Gas consumption fell by 5.7% to 4.2 Bcf/day. U.S. Natural Gas futures have collapsed with rising output amid increasing production rates and unprecedented mild weather.

According to ChemAnalyst, the price of Natural Gas is anticipated to showcase a bearish trend in the wake of limited feeble market trading fundamentals and rising temperatures. Short-term sentiments will remain weak with a feeble demand outlook and concerns about industrial consumption due to adequate inventories. In terms of the downstream derivative market, the trading fundamentals for Formic Acid and Formaldehyde also slumped with declining benchmark futures and slow market offtakes.