-- European natural gas futures opened lower on Wednesday with no major advances in the US-Iran conflict, while relatively strong renewables output displacing gas-fired generation and mild weather averting consumption from air conditioning were among influences.
Dutch TTF futures were down 2.2% to 45.88 euros ($53.83) per megawatt hour while UK NBP futures fell 2.9% to 111.7 British pence ($1.52).
ANZ Senior Commodities Analyst Daniel Hynes said in a daily update that cooler European temperatures and strong renewables output were one reason why its benchmark futures prices were not currently climbing.
US President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that he was pausing Project Freedom or the escort of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, at the request of mediator Pakistan and "other countries" while the US would continue to block access in and out of Iranian ports.
Trump said that Project Freedom "will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," in reference to a deal he is seeking with Iran, with the abandonment of its nuclear enrichment ambitions chief among his demands.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump said that while higher, he said energy prices had not risen that dramatically and he said the higher prices were "a very small price to pay," to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
He said Iran's economy meanwhile was on the verge of collapse with galloping inflation, army salaries unpaid and a worthless currency. Trump also reiterated that Iranian negotiators
continued to engage keenly with the US behind the scenes while telling the public no such engagement was taking place.
Analysts have grown somewhat immune to such messages with no significant progress on the single most pressing issue - the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz through which 20% of the world's oil and LNG-gas supplies flowed prior to the conflict.