Natural Gas price action has had an amazing two years, with the usually pretty boring commodity showing extreme volatility pushing it to all time highs before a dramatic collapse seeing it back where it started in 2020. Like all the energy complex, Oil being a good example, the start of the Covid panic saw wild price fluctuations as traders came to terms with lockdowns and the related slowdowns, followed by unprecedented Central Bank stimulus. But the real push higher in Natural Gas came at the start of the war in Ukraine and the loss of Russian Gas for European suppliers, with fears of a cold winter with a much constrained supply of gas seeing the price spike to all-time highs.
But instead of a long cold gas starved winter the northern hemisphere experienced higher-than-average temperatures which meant the gas supply crunch wasn’t as dire as feared which sent liquefied natural gas prices tumbling to pre covid levels from a record all-time high. With Natural gas back to historical support levels there is a technical and fundamental case for a move higher in the near future. From a technical perspective, on a daily chart we can see that Natural Gas has found strong support since February around the 2.09 level, an historic level it found support at before the pandemic as well, we can also wee a rounding bottom pattern forming on a daily chart, this is considered one of the most reliable chart patterns in technical analysis.
According to a recent interview with Bloomberg by Yukio Kani, the chairman and CEO of Jera Co which is the worlds largest buyer of LNG, he is expecting a price spike again in natural gas this year due to Chinese re-opening demand, unusually war Northern Hemisphere weather increasing energy demand for cooling purposes and increased import capacity in Europe and China. Certainly, a market worth watching going forward!
By
Lachlan Meakin
Head of Research, GO Markets Australia.
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As tariff shocks collide with a ten year extreme in oil positioning, the margin for error is zero. See the technical markers and safe haven pivots defining the current risk environment.
135M idle barrels — days of cover against each demand benchmark
vs. Strait of Hormuz daily flow (20M bbl/day)
6.75 daysof Hormuz throughput covered
6.75 days
0
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30 days
vs. Global oil consumption (104M bbl/day)
1.3 daysof world demand covered
1.3 days
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30 days
vs. US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release (1M bbl/day)
135 daysof full SPR release pace covered
135 days — but SPR exists to replace this role
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30 days
135M
idle barrels on tankers (midpoint of 120–150M range)
~33%
of daily Hormuz flow that is idle storage, not transit
<31 hrs
is all idle storage against global daily consumption
Indicative market trajectories based on disruption severity
Scenarios for the weeks ahead
1–2 WEEKS
Ceasefire catch-up
Markets face catch-up repricing. Brent could consolidate in the US$105–US$115 range as risk premia unwind. Brent may trade lower (US$95–US$110) if strategic stocks bridge the temporary shortfall.
2–4 WEEKS
Infrastructure blitz
Shifts to structural supply shock. Brent moving toward US$150–US$200 cannot be ruled out. This is the stagflation trigger where energy costs constrain central bank flexibility.
STRUCTURAL
Geopolitical floor
Iran's transit fee demand creates a permanent input cost. The pre-crisis price structure (US$60–US$70) may not return, embedded in insurance and freight rates.
Critical Threshold
US$120 remains the level at which energy inflation becomes a direct Federal Reserve policy problem.