Energy Prospectus

Bloomberg article, this morning “The Surge in Natural Gas Prices Is Equal to a $190 Oil Shock” which included the following:

"Dutch (TTF) front-month natural gas contract hit the equivalent of 100 euros a megawatt-hour early Friday, its highest ever, before retreating later. That’s about $190 per barrel of oil equivalent, more than double the value of the energy in a barrel of Brent crude oil the same day. The benchmark oil contract had its record of $147.50 a barrel in July 2008." In Japan the front month gas price is ~10% higher.

This is happening because European utilities are in "panic mode". They know now that they do not have sufficient natural gas supplies to make it thru even a normal winter. Last year Europe and Asia both had much colder than normal winters. Any weather close to what they had a year ago may require the burning of wood to heat homes. Welcome to "Woke Energy Policy World". Europe is also in "Russia Controls Eastern Europe World".

More from Bloomberg:

On Thursday, the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM), North Asia’s benchmark for spot liquefied natural gas shipments, surged to $34.47 per million British thermal units, the highest on records going back to 2009, according to price reporting agency S&P Global Platts. Converting that into oil units, also gives a price of about $190 per barrel of oil equivalent.

Energy prices are rising from the U.S. to Europe and Asia as economies recover from the pandemic while supply lags behind. Depleted storages after the past winter, colder and longer than usual, coupled with reduced field investments in some regions and heavy maintenance deferred from 2020 because of Covid restrictions, all contributed to the global crisis.

The supply crunch is rippling across other markets, supporting oil prices as well since utilities are struggling to get any alternatives to gas that they can, including fuel oil for power generation and heating. < Isn't it ironic that "Woke Energy Policy" is actually forcing countries around the world (including the U.S.) to switch back to burning more oil and coal to generate electricity.