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EMEA Natural Gas Update: Futures Rise as China Rejects Economic D-day

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European natural gas futures rose in after-hours trade on Friday as the US plan for sweeping sanctions on Iran hit a roadblock after China rejected it.

Front-month Dutch TTF futures rose 1.309% to 66.15 euros ($77.28) per megawatt-hour, while UK NBP futures gained 1.29% to 163.310 British pence ($2.23) per therm.

Prices rose after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday reiterated China's rejection of US President Trump's threatened "economic D-Day" against Iran, adding that unilateral sanctions without UN authorization violate international law and will not resolve the Middle East conflict.

This statement directly rebuffed US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's demand for third-party nations, particularly top Iranian oil buyer China, to "get with the program" and enforce Tehran's total economic isolation.

Prices were also supported by tight EU supply and strong demand for air conditioning.

MarketScale said Europe's power supply is under strain due to summer heat, leading to decreased wind generation, restrictions on nuclear power due to cooling limits, and temporary gas outages. This situation is driving up gas prices as the market attempts to compensate for the power deficit. The reliance on gas is becoming a risk factor as the power stack adjusts to these conditions, it said.

UK Energy Market Report said Gassco's unplanned maintenance at its Karsto gas processing plant is cutting throughput by 50,000 cubic meters per day, with Norwegian Continental Shelf nominations dropping to 281.8 mcm/day, the lowest in around two months.

The factors above make it difficult to refill European inventories ahead of winter.

European gas inventories stood at 61.82% of capacity, down from 74.53% in the same period a year ago, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe. Inventories were also significantly below the five-year average for this period, at 79.0%, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

However, the European Commission played down concerns over low inventories ahead of winter, with spokesperson Eva Hrncirova saying earlier this week that there was "no immediate concern for the security of gas supply," while noting that the bloc was targeting storage levels of 80% of capacity rather than 100%.

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