Dutch and British natural gas contracts mostly firmed on Friday, supported by low storage levels, ongoing cold weather increasing demand and geopolitical concerns over Iran that may impact liquefied natural gas shipments.
The January contract at the TTF hub was up €0.48 at €40.45 per megawatt hour on its last day of trading, or $14.12/mmBtu, by 0947 GMT, LSEG data showed.
The main focus now is on the March contract, however, which gained €0.47 to €38.85/MWh. The Dutch day-ahead contract was down €0.06 at €40.35/MWh.
The British day-ahead gas price was up by 1.57p to 103.57p per therm, while the February gas contract rose 3.20 to 104p/therm and March gained 1.70p to 95.20p/therm.
The evolution of gas storage amid ongoing cold weather remains a key market concern, analysts said.
EU gas storage sites were last 42.9 per cent full, compared with 55 per cent at the same time last year and below the five-year average of 58 per cent, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.
"With another cold spell expected in the second week of February, the situation is becoming more critical," Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at Global Risk Management, wrote in a note.
Geopolitical risk has also returned, LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said with view to potential US action in Iran.
"While prices haven't reacted yet, events like last June's US strikes on Iran show that any escalation could threaten LNG supply and lift prices," he added.
Qatar, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, which accounted for around 19 per cent of global exports in 2025, ships volumes through the Strait of Hormuz, putting supply at risk, ING analysts said.
Meanwhile, some Australian LNG cargoes are being diverted away from their regular destinations in Asia towards the US and Europe as cold weather has lifted prices in these markets.
The freezing weather seen in especially in the northwest of the US has also prompted calls by the lobby group, Industrial Energy Consumers of America, to suspend spot LNG exports in an effort to reduce energy costs and ensure reliability.
(Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)