Dutch and British gas prices rose on Monday morning due to uncertainty over shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, even as Iran and the United States agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Persian Gulf and Middle East.
The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was up €0.868 at €41.65/per megawatt hour (MWh) or around $13.92/mmBtu, by 08:25 GMT, ICE data showed.
The British June contract was up 2.05p at 99.85p per therm.
“Prices may glean some support from the fragile and fluid situation in the Middle East. More ships (were) attacked in the Strait of Hormuz as well as renewed attacks by Iran and the US over the weekend,” Wayne Bryan, head of European gas research at LSEG, said in a daily research note.
Shipments through the Strait of Hormuz began rising last week but then declined following renewed attacks on ships from Thursday that triggered strikes from the US and Iran. The two countries have since agreed to renew talks over the strait.
Some 20 per cent of the world's liquefied natural gas supply typically passes through the waterway, but this has been significantly curbed since the conflict began on February 28.
Fundamentally, the European gas market was well supplied with total Norwegian export nominations up seven million cubic metres/day to 338 mcm/d, LSEG data showed.
Britain’s gas market was oversupplied with supply forecast at 155.8 million cubic metres and demand at 142.98 mcm, National Gas data showed.
High temperatures across Europe, which had raised power demand and led to curbs on French nuclear power production, have started to ease although high temperatures are forecast to return in July.
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Eileen Soreng)