Lower wind generation, cooler weather send gas price in Europe up

Wind power generation in Europe has fallen sharply, by as much as half, and spot prices for gas and gas withdrawals from storage facilities have risen as a result.

Wind power generation fell below 8% of the European energy mix on Tuesday, from 15% on Monday and an average of 18% for the past week, when it peaked at 22.4%, according to WindEurope data.

The day-ahead contract for today at the Dutch TTF gas hub in the Netherlands rose 7% in the space of a day to $1,425 per thousand cubic meters. In Asia, the most expensive winter futures contract for February on the JKM Platts index has risen to $1,154.

Europe has begun withdrawing gas from its UGS facilities intensively, and inventories in storage facilities are currently 93.62%, a figure that is 10.6 percentage points above the five-year average.

Inventories "thinned" 0.27% during the gas day on November 28, the most in the withdrawal season so far.