Oil & Energy
EMEA Natural Gas Update: Futures Fall as US-Iran Technical Talks Continue Despite Ongoing Hostilities
European natural gas futures were down on Friday, pulling back from their one-month high, amid continuing US-Iran negotiations, despite the recent military exchanges.The front-month Dutch TTF contract dropped 2.03% to 49.085 euros ($56.15) per megawatt hour, while the UK front-month NBP contract declined 2.08% to 118.320 British pence ($1.59) per therm.On Thursday, the US said that it would continue to hold "technical" talks with Iran and remained committed to resolving the conflict, despite renewed hostilities between the two sides along the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report by MS Now, citing a US official familiar with the matter.Even with the two sides exchanging strikes, the strategically crucial Strait, which accounted for one-fifth of global LNG flows, witnessed elevated traffic, with 51 vessels transiting over the past 24 hours, and 34 vessels currently undertaking the voyage, according to the Hormuz Strait Monitor.Meanwhile, Qatar, one of the world's largest LNG producers, paused its efforts to rapidly revive output after one of its tankers was struck earlier this week, according to a Bloomberg report, citing officials familiar with the matter.QatarEnergy also said that operations at its Ras Laffan Facility will be kept at a minimum, and even vessels scheduled to dock at the plant will be reduced, amid safety concerns due to the renewed hostilities in the region.Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ, warned that this could further tighten the global gas market, especially at a time when Europe needs to ramp up refilling of its depleted storage inventories.Gas inventories across the continent stood at just 51.10% of capacity, compared to 61.59% during the corresponding period a year ago, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.They were also significantly below the five-year average for this period, at 66.3% of capacity, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.