24 hours of turbulence add uncertainty to winter market

Last week, three announcements were received by Europe’s market that curtail upstream output, gas transit capacity and power production capability. By themselves, they may not have brought a substantial response in such an oversupplied market. But together, they result in significant implications for the European market over the peak winter demand period as well as longer term ramifications. • The Dutch government announced that Europe’s biggest gas field, Groningen, would halt normal production by 2022 – few years earlier than had previously been planned • The European Court of Justice (ECJ) announced that German regulator Bnetza had to halve the capacity allowance on a key transit artery, OPAL, for Europe’s biggest gas supplier, Gazprom • The French nuclear giant, EDF, announced that there were issues with welding standards that could affect up to 20 nuclear reactors; as Europe’s biggest power exporter, a decline in France’s production capability would be felt across Western Europe