Gas prices have slumped despite seemingly favorable geopolitical trends such as increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine, delays in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and eastward flows on the key Yamal-Europe pipeline for the 30th consecutive day with no further exports to Europe planned from Gazprom in February. Nevertheless, UK natural gas prices are down nearly five percent, with futures trading for March and April reporting near six percent drops. Meanwhile, Dutch futures on the TTF benchmark are also down nearly five per cent, with similar drops for futures this spring. Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen attributed the drop in prices to three developments: fading supply disruptions in Norway, milder weather forecasts reducing demand, and the highest arrivals of LNG since November 2019. This has bolstered formerly flagging supplies, heightened by problems at the pumps in Russia. He also pointed to speculation from Asian markets which […]