According to the latest figures released by Cedigaz, natural gas prices rose in Q1 compared to 2017. This was mainly attributed mainly to the harsh winter season. Since then, they have declined, as is usually the case in spring and summer.
Cedigaz expects gas prices in Europe and Japan to be be higher this year compared to last year, due to the uptrend in the oil price and its impact on Asian oil-indexed contracts and winter spot prices. For summer 2018, the increase in the CO2 price in Europe (+110% in one year) has created a higher reference for the gas price. These trends do not pertain to the U.S. market, where the price has tended to remain stable or fall.
