European gas faces more winter price weakness

The impact of further pandemic lockdowns is compounding an already bearish outlook

The benchmark Dutch TTF price recovered strongly in the third quarter of 2020 and has largely held onto those gains for now. But analysts warn that Europe could still see another winter of low gas prices, particularly given the risk posed by further lockdowns to tackle new waves of Covid-19 infections ahead of any widespread rollout of vaccination programmes. Gas demand in Europe recovered in June and through the third quarter, after falling by over 11pc—or 10bn m³—between early March and end of May, mainly due to drops in industrial and power generation requirements, Gergely Molnar, a gas analyst at the IEA, told Petroleum Economist’s LNG-to-Power Emea forum in early November. Industrial ga