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EMEA Natural Gas Update: Futures Edge Higher as US-Iran Military Conflict Intensifies

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European natural gas futures edged higher on Friday as the US and Iran continued to trade strikes along the Strait of Hormuz.

The front-month Dutch TTF contract was up 0.59% to 58.660 euros ($67.50) per megawatt-hour. The front-month UK NBP contract was up 0.88% to 143.720 British pence ($1.93) per therm.

On Friday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that they launched attacks against strategic US assets and military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, in response to the latest wave of US strikes against the country, as talks once again broke down between the two sides earlier this week, according to a report by CNBC.

Meanwhile, commercial vessel traffic along the strategically crucial Strait, which accounted for one-fifth of global LNG flows, remained steady with 19 transits on Thursday, according to ShipFinder.

According to Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ, traders in Europe remain concerned about refilling the region's gas inventories before the next heating season, as supply constraints continued to mount.

Europe's gas inventories remained below historic levels at 56.39%, compared to 67.94% during the corresponding period a year ago, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Inventories were also significantly below the five-year average for this period, at 72.5%, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

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