The extremely hot weather of the last days has alleviated the pressure of international uncertainties on the spot price of gas, the quotations on the Romanian Commodity Exchange (RCE) falling below 400 lei/MWh for the first time in the last month, wrote profit.ro. On Sunday, 26.7 GWh were sold on RCE on the domestic market at an average price of 383.5 lei/MWh. A quantity of 767 MWh was sold even with a price of 345 lei/MWh. The quantity sold on Sunday was an important one, equivalent to 9.5% of the domestic consumption. If we add the 36.6 GWh traded on the market for the next day, the quantity on the 2 spot markets covered a quarter of the domestic consumption of 284.5 GWh.
The prices on the spot market in Romania, of approximately 80 euros/MWh, are over 20 euros below those on the most important regional market, the Austrian CEGH, profit.ro also writes. On Sunday, the average price of DAM was 102.8 euros/MWh. On Monday, the Austrian market opened lower, with a MWh trading at 96.5 euros.
In the Western Europe, gas futures linked to TTF tumbled to below 100 euro per megawatt-hour in late March, a level not seen in a month, amid easing concerns about energy shortages. The US and the EU have announced a deal on liquified natural gas, pledging to supply 15 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas to the block this year to help it wean off Russian energy dependence. On top of that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reiterated that his country is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status ahead of fresh talks with Russia in Turkey. Meanwhile, domestically, late winter weather is giving a final boost to heating demand, with satellite data indicating colder temperatures until at least April 1st.
In the medium term, the markets anticipate the continuation of the upward trend, with a level of TTF quotations of 150 euros per MWh for futures contracts with delivery in 2023.
The same situation appears on the forward markets operated by RCE, writes profit.ro. The possibility, more or less remote, of banning or limiting Russian gas imports by the EU, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on gas payments in rubles and price regulation for households and CET led to a 30.6% increase in the price of gas for delivery in April in recent days. The current prices on RCE, of over 600 lei/MWh, are over 3 times above the one capped by the government for domestic customers, of 200 lei/MWh and about 2.5 times above the one capped for non-domestic consumers, of 250 lei/MWh.