European natural gas futures declined on Friday, but remained near their highest level since December 2022, amid ongoing disruptions to liquefied natural gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Front-month Dutch TTF futures dropped 0.91% to 81.300 euros ($94.35) per megawatt-hour, while British NBP futures declined 1.31% to 202.390 British pence ($2.74) per therm. Both Dutch TTF and UK Gas were up by 13.04% and 13.56% for the week, respectively, according to data from TradingEconomics.
Fighting between the US and Iran intensified this week, with both sides claiming attacks on tankers transiting the crucial waterway, heightening concerns over global energy supplies.
Despite this, traffic along the strait, which accounted for one-fifth of global LNG flows, held steady, with 17 transits on Thursday, according to data from ShipFinder.
Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ, noted that importers continued to seek increasingly scarce cargoes "with no resolution of the conflict in sight," while European gas inventories remained considerably below historical standards.
European gas inventories stood at 67.64% of capacity, below 79.86% 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 83.8%, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
However, the region is forecast to experience mild conditions, with above-average temperatures for winter, according to a report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This should ease heating gas demand and reduce pressure on inventories, which are currently at multi-year lows.