-- European natural gas futures were up on Monday, despite US President Donald Trump's recent plans to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
The front-month Dutch TTF contract was up 1.69% to 46.54 euros ($54.49) per megawatt-hour, while the UK NBP contract was closed due to the Early May Bank Holiday.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said that US forces would use their "best efforts" to get the ships and crew stranded in the Persian Gulf safely out of the Strait. Referring to it as "Project Freedom," Trump said that this would begin on Monday morning.
Yet, European natural gas prices continued to rally, as ING analysts noted that the "market does not seem convinced by the plan," especially since it does little to enable inbound traffic. This would only amount to "temporary relief" the note said, allowing floating storage to leave the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Iran has received a response to its latest proposal from the US, with Tehran's 14-point peace plan calling for an end to the hostilities between the two nations within the next 30 days, according to the Tasnim News Agency. The US, however, is yet to officially confirm that it has responded to the proposal.
Additionally, supply concerns in global gas markets have also been subdued due to "the current shoulder season," according to Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ. He also noted that this lull is giving markets a bit of breathing room to properly assess the impact of ongoing disruptions.
The Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for one-fifth of global LNG flows, remained effectively closed for the tenth week running, with just 12 vessels transiting over the past 24 hours, according to the Hormuz Strait Monitor.
At the same time, European gas inventories are still depleted going into refilling season, at just 33.42% of capacity, compared to 40.29% during this period last year, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.