In this week's highlights, oil recovery is in the spotlight at industry events; European gas markets remain buoyant as buyers look to secure volumes to fill storage; and eyes are on Germany's energy transition with the expected launch of the country's renewable hydrogen plans.
- Global recovery prospects, Biden-Putin in focus
- Europe and Asia compete for summer LNG
- Germany details hydrogen import auctions
In this week's highlights, European gas markets remain buoyant as buyers look to secure volumes to fill storage; and eyes are on Germany's energy transition with the expected launch of the country's renewable hydrogen plans.
But first, in oil, we have an array of industry and political events this week, as vaccine rollouts in the developed world start to increase mobility levels and boost confidence in the global recovery.
The pace of recovery will be in the spotlight at two industry events kicking off on Tuesday: Platts' Global Executive Petroleum Conference and the FT's Global Commodities Summit.
The Platts event features John Staub, the director of the US Energy Information Administration, as well as commodities strategist Helima Croft of Royal Bank of Canada; BP's chief US economist and head of oil and refining, Michael Cohen; and Goldman Sachs' head of global commodities research Jeffrey Currie. Trading company heads including Vitol's Russell Hardy and Trafigura's Jeremy Weir are also set to speak at the FT event.
On the same day, it's the annual Capital Markets Day of Norway's Equinor, the first for new CEO Anders Opedal, where he'll be addressing both the company's energy transition plans, but also its ongoing production of oil and gas, at a time when several projects are actually set to increase the company's oil output.
Finally, on the geopolitical front, we'll be keeping a close eye on Wednesday's summit in Switzerland between US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, at which the geopolitical issues of the day, from climate change to Iran, are in play.
And now to European gas markets, where prices remain elevated as buyers look to secure volumes to fill European gas storage sites this summer, which are currently only 41% full compared with 75% this time last year.
Europe is having to compete with Asia for LNG cargoes, with S&P Global Platts' JKM benchmark spot Asian LNG price also now up above $12/MMBtu, and trading at a continued premium to European gas prices.
If the competition for LNG supply this summer continues to swing in favor of Asia -- and as Indian buying normalizes -- Europe could struggle to secure cargoes.
However, should the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline begin commercial flows later in the summer, it could relieve some of the pressure on the market.
It's also a big day for the energy transition today with German energy minister Peter Altmaier due to launch the country's H2Global platform for renewable hydrogen imports.
The platform is putting up two billion euros of state support for electrolysis projects across the globe, Germany having signed MOUs with Saudi Arabia, Canada and Morocco.
Support is to bridge the gap between supply offers abroad and demand bids at home via double-sided auctions. Expect more details from a press conference today.
As you can see in this chart, Platts has assessed the price of renewable hydrogen in Europe at around five euros per kilogram, double the cost of gas-based hydrogen production with carbon capture.
And that brings us to our social media question of the week: what do you think about the prospects for green hydrogen in Europe? Send us your comments with the hashtag PlattsMM.
In addition, the Platts Atlas of Energy Transition is your map to the sustainable commodity markets of the future. You can explore the Atlas by visiting the address displayed on your screen.
Thanks for kicking off your Monday with us and have a great week!