European gas at € 100.5 with a drop of 4.3% – Oil up

LAST UPDATE 19:20

The de-escalation of the pressures on the price of European natural gas continues, which in fact today fell below 100 euros.

Finally, the price of the April contract in Amsterdam (TTF), the pan-European benchmark, closed with a loss of 4.36% and stands at 100.5 euros per megawatt hour. At the high today it was found up to 109.8 euros.

Rising oil prices

Intense volatility in oil prices, which are alternating signs in today’s session, with the positive trends seem to prevail.

Earlier, little progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine had pushed prices to the brink of $ 110, amid increased chances for tougher sanctions and a longer cut in Russian crude supply.

The fourth day of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators was televised, but the Kremlin said no agreement had been reached, and that despite battlefield failures and Western sanctions, President Putin had shown little sign of backing down.

In this climate and in the midst of extremely high volatility, Brent is now up 1% to $ 107.70 a barrel, after rising 9% yesterday, which is the highest since mid-2020. and $ 109.59 today.

Correspondingly, US West Texas Intermediate is now gaining 1.7% to $ 104.73 a barrel, after reaching $ 106.28 today after rising 8% yesterday.

On a weekly basis, however, both brent and the WTI are expected to end with a fall of about 3%, having fallen from the 14-year highs they reached two weeks ago.

“I expect more volatility. There is still a lot of uncertainty out there,” said Justin Smirk, chief economist at Westpac.

Shrinking supply due to sanctions on Russia, nuclear talks with Iran, declining inventories and concerns about rising coronavirus cases in China have hit demand and led to this week’s ups and downs.

Analysts at RBC Capital say the losses in Russian oil exports are likely to prove to be long-lasting and that there will be little potential for compensation.