European demand surge leads to cut in storage injections

European demand rose last week by 15%, well above expectations for the end of September, leading to a cut in storage injections and with most countries actually seeing a few days of net withdrawals.

The only two major markets that were less affected and could therefore sustain storage injections at a higher level appeared to be Italy and the Netherlands.

The impact of higher demand was also exacerbated by a small week-on-week decline in total EU+UK LNG sendout. Lower flow from French terminals affected by ongoing strikes was in fact roughly offset by higher sendout from other terminals across Europe.

Reports on weather conditions over the coming days however suggest this is likely to have been only a temporary spike; the impact on market balances over the coming winter is therefore likely to be limited.

Source: Giovanni Bettinelli