Spot natural gas prices (CFDS ON NATURAL GAS) rebounded during the recent trading at the intraday levels, to achieve daily gains until the moment of writing this report, by 2.89%. It settled at the price of $4.715 per million British thermal units, after declining during Friday’s trading by amounting to -2.22%. During the past week, the price rose by 1.44%, after recording its highest price at 5.056, but it rebounded from it to cut its gains to close its week at a price of 4.582 dollars per million British thermal units.
Global oil and natural gas prices fell on Friday, as sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies ruled out Russian energy exports.
British and Dutch natural gas futures fell as Russian natural gas shipments to Europe increased. Mixed signals were also sent after reports emerged that the Russian government would be open to talks with Ukraine. It was not immediately clear how serious this possibility was, as North American Treaty Organization leaders said they would deploy additional military forces to members of the Eastern Alliance.
Russian flows through Ukraine increased by 38% on Thursday, when panic swept the market and pushed prices higher. It was set to rise another 24% Friday, when Russian forces entered the Ukrainian capital. Russian gas shipments via Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline were also booked at auction on Friday, flowing to Germany for the first time in months.
The surge in flows also signifies Europe's dependence on Russia to meet gas demand and enhance Ukraine's role as a fuel pathway to the continent. About 20% of the Russian gas consumed by Europe moved through Ukraine last year.
The leaders of US oil and natural gas producers on Thursday pledged to support Ukraine in light of Russia's unprovoked invasion.
Technically, the price is confined to a narrow trading range in an attempt to gain positive momentum that may help it recover and rise again. This is in light of the dominance of the main bullish trend in the medium term along a slope line, as shown in the attached chart for a (daily) period, with the positive pressure continuing in its trades above its simple moving average for the previous 50 days. This is in addition to that, we notice the influx of positive signals on the RSI indicators.
Therefore, we expect natural gas to rise during its upcoming trading, as long as the support level 4.214 remains, especially in the event that it breaches the current resistance 4.954, to target the resistance level 5.710 after that.
