Natural Gas Prices in Europe Headed Lower - Bloomberg

Natural Gas Prices in Europe Headed Lower - Bloomberg:

European natural gas prices look set to fall for the first time in four years in 2019 as buyers keep a close eye on flows from Russia that reached a record last year.

With a healthy amount of fuel in storage after a mild start to this winter, the outlook is bearish. That’s being exacerbated by an expected increase in imports, which would help offset declining production in the region. While Russia intends to maintain its grip on about 40 percent of the European market, fluctuations in that dependency will be closely monitored.

“The question is how much gas Russia ends up delivering into the European markets -- that will be a key determinant,” said Murray Douglas, research director for European gas at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. “Russia expressed publicly it wants to keep deliveries. That could generate a real collapse in prices in the summer months, when we will see a big LNG supply.”