Analys
A ”Game of Chicken”: How long do you dare to wait before buying?
The EUA market rallied 3.4% ydy and is adding another 0.5% this afternoon with EUA Dec-24 at EUR 54.2/ton. Despite the current bounce in prices we think that the ongoing sell-off in EUA prices still has another EUR 10/ton downside from here which will place the low-point of EUA Dec-24 and Dec-25 at around around EUR 45/ton. Rapidly rising natural gas inventory surplus versus normal and nat gas demand in Europe at 23% below normal will likely continue to depress nat gas prices in Europe and along with that EUA prices. The EUA price will likely struggle to break below the EUR 50/ton level, but we think it will break.
That said, our strong view is still that the deal of the year is to build strategic long positions in EUA contracts. These certificates are ”licence to operate” for all companies who are participants in the EU ETS irrespective whether it is industry, shipping, aviation or utilities. We have argued this strongly towards our corporate clients. The feedback we are getting is that many of them indeed are planning to do just that with board approvals pending. Issuance of EUAs is set to fall sharply from 2026 onward. The Market Stability Reserve (MSR) mechanism will clean out any surplus EUAs above 833 m t by 2025/26. Medium-term market outlook 2026/27 is unchanged and not impacted by current bearish market fundamentals with fair EUA price north of EUR 100/ton by then. Building strategic long position in EUAs in 2024 is not about pinpointing the low point which we think will be around EUR 45/ton, but instead all about implementing a solid strategic purchasing plan for EUAs for 2024.
The ingredients in the bottoming process will be: 1) Re-start of European industry as energy prices come down to normal, 2) Revival in nat gas demand as this happens, 3) Nat gas prices finding a floor and possibly rebounding a bit as this happens, 4) Asian nat gas demand reviving as nat gas now normally priced versus oil, 5) Strategic purchasing of EUA by market participants in the EU ETS, 6) Speculative buying of EUAs, 7) Bullish political intervention in H2-24 and 2025 as EU economies revive on cheap energy and politicians have 2024-elections behind them.
On #1 we now see calculations that aluminium smelters in Europe now are in-the-money but not restarted yet. On #2 we see that demand destruction (temp. adj.) in Europe is starting to fade a bit. On #3 we have not seen that yet. On #4 we see stronger flows of LNG to Asia. On #5 we see lots of our corporate clients planning to purchase strategically and finding current EUA prices attractive. On #6 it may be a bit early and so as well for #7.
For EU ETS participants it may be a ”Game of Chicken”: How long do you dare to wait before buying? Those who wait too long may find the carbon constrained future hard to handle.
Ydy’s short-covering rally lost some steam this morning before regaining some legs in the afternoon. The EUA Dec-24 ydy rallied 3.4% to EUR 53.97/ton in what looks like a short-covering-rally in both coal, nat gas, power and EUAs. This morning it gave almost all of the gains back again before regaining some strength in the afternoon to the point where it is now up at EUR 54.7/ton which is +1.4% vs. ydy. A weather forecast promising more seasonally normal temperatures and below normal winds could be part of the explanation.
The power market is currently the main driver and nat gas prices the most active agent. The main driver in the EUA market is the power market. When the EUA market is medium-tigh (not too loose and not too tight), then the EUA price will naturally converge towards the balancing point where the cost of coal fired electricity equals the cost of gas fired electricity. I.e. the EUA price which solves the equation: a*Coal_price + b*EUA_price = c*Gas_price + d*EUA_price where a, b, c and d are coefficients given by energy efficiency levels, emission factors and EURUSD fex forward rates. As highlighted earlier, this is not one unique EUA balancing price but a range of crosses between different efficiencies for coal power and gas power versus each other.
Coal-to-gas dynamics will eventually fade as price driver for EUAs but right now they are fully active. Eventually these dynamics will come to a halt as a price driver for the EUA price and that is when the carbon market (EU ETS) becomes so tight that all the dynamical flexibility to flex out of coal and into gas has been exhausted. At that point in time the marginal abatement cost setting the price of an EUA will move to other parts of the economy where the carbon abatement cost typically is EUR 100/ton or higher. We expect this to happen in 2026/27.
But for now it is all about the power market and the converging point where the EUA price is balancing the cost of Coal + CO2 equal to Gas + CO2 as described above. And here again it is mostly about the price of natural gas which has moved most dramatically of the pair Coal vs Gas.
Nat gas demand in Europe is running 23% below normal and inventories are way above normal. And natural gas prices have fallen lower and lower as proper demand recovery keeps lagging the price declines. Yes, demand will eventually revive due low nat gas prices, and we can see emerging signs of that happening both in Europe and in Asia, but nat gas in Europe is still very, very weak vs. normal. But reviving demand is typically lagging in time vs price declines. Nat gas in Europe over the 15 days to 25. Feb was roughly 23% below normal this time of year in a combination of warm weather and still depressed demand. Inventories are falling much slower than normal as a result and now stand at 63.9% vs. a normal 44.4% which is 262 TWh more than normal inventories.
Bearish pressure in nat gas prices looks set to continue in the short term. Natural gas prices will naturally be under pressure to move yet lower as long as European nat gas demand revival is lagging and surplus inventory of nat gas keeps rising rapidly. And falling front-end nat gas prices typically have a guiding effect on forward nat gas prices as well.
Yet lower nat gas prices and yet lower EUA prices in the near term most likely. Nat gas prices in Europe will move yet lower regarding both spot and forwards and the effect on EUA will be continued bearish pressure on prices.
EUA’s may struggle a bit to break below the EUR 50/ton line but most likely they will. EUA prices will typically struggle a bit to cross below EUR 50/ton just because it is a significant number. But it is difficult to see that this price level won’t be broken properly as the bearish pressure continues from the nat gas side of the equation. Even if nat gas prices comes to a halt at current prices we should still see the EUA price break below the EUR 50/ton level and down towards EUR 45/ton for Dec-24 and Dec-25.
The front-year nat gas price is the most important but EUA price should move yet lower even if it TTF-2025 stays unchanged at EUR 27.7/ton. The front-year is the most important for the EUA price as that is where there is most turnover and hedging. The following attractors for the EUA forward prices is with today’s TTF forward price curve (TTF Cal-2025 = EUR 27.7/ton) and today’s forward EURUSD FX curve and with ydy’s ARA coal closing prices. What it shows is that the forward EUA attractors are down at EUR 45/ton and lower.
The front-year Coal-to-Gas differential is the most important ”attractor” for the EUA price (Cal-2025 = average of Dec-24 and Dec-25) and that is down to around EUR 45/ton with a TTF Cal-2025 price of EUR 27.7/ton. The bearish pressure on EUA prices will continue as long as the forward nat gas prices are at these price levels or lower.
And if we take the EUA attractors from all the different energy efficiency crosses between coal and gas then we get an average attractor of EUR 44.2/ton for EUA Cal-2025 (= average of Dec-24 and Dec-25) versus a market price today of EUR 53.9/ton.
Calculating all the energy efficiency crosses between coal and gas power plants with current prices for coal and nat gas for 2025 we get an average of EUR 44.2/ton vs an EUA market price of EUR 53.9/ton. Bearish pressure on EUAs will continue as long as this is the case.
Utility hedging incentive index still deeply negative: Utilities have no incentive currently to buy coal, gas and EUAs forward and sell power forward against it as these forward margins are currently negative => very weak purchasing of EUAs from utilities for the time being.
Natural gas in Europe for different periods with diff between actual and normal decomposed into ”price effect” and ”weather effect”. Demand last 15 days were 23% below normal!
Natural gas inventories in Europe vs the 2014-2023 average. Surplus vs. normal is rising rapidly.
Nat gas inventories in Europe at record high for the time of year. Depressing spot prices more and more. Nat gas prices are basically shouting: ”Demand, demand, where are you?? Come and eat me!”
Analys
Brent on a rollercoaster between bullish sanctions and bearish tariffs. Tariffs and demand side fears in focus today
Brent crude rallied to a high of USD 75.29/b yesterday, but wasn’t able to hold on to it and closed the day at USD 74.49/b. Brent crude has now crossed above both the 50- and 100-day moving average with the 200dma currently at USD 76.1/b. This morning it is trading a touch lower at USD 74.3/b
Brent riding a rollercoaster between bullish sanctions and bearish tariffs. Biden sanctions drove Brent to USD 82.63/b in mid-January. Trump tariffs then pulled it down to USD 68.33/b in early March with escalating concerns for oil demand growth and a sharp selloff in equities. New sanctions from Trump on Iran, Venezuela and threats of such also towards Russia then drove Brent crude back up to its recent high of USD 75.29/b. Brent is currently driving a rollercoaster between new demand damaging tariffs from Trump and new supply tightening sanctions towards oil producers (Iran, Venezuela, Russia) from Trump as well.
’Liberation day’ is today putting demand concerns in focus. Today we have ’Liberation day’ in the US with new, fresh tariffs to be released by Trump. We know it will be negative for trade, economic growth and thus oil demand growth. But we don’t know how bad it will be as the effects comes a little bit down the road. Especially bad if it turns into a global trade war escalating circus.
Focus today will naturally be on the negative side of demand. It will be hard for Brent to rally before we have the answer to what the extent these tariffs will be. Republicans lost the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin yesterday. So maybe the new Tariffs will be to the lighter side if Trump feels that he needs to tread a little bit more carefully.
OPEC+ controlling the oil market amid noise from tariffs and sanctions. In the background though sits OPEC+ with a huge surplus production capacity which it now will slice and dice out with gradual increases going forward. That is somehow drowning in the noise from sanctions and tariffs. But all in all, it is still OPEC+ who is setting the oil price these days.
US oil inventory data likely to show normal seasonal rise. Later today we’ll have US oil inventory data for last week. US API indicated last night that US crude and product stocks rose 4.4 mb last week. Close to the normal seasonal rise in week 13.
Higher last week and today as sanctions bite harder than recession fears. Brent crude gained 2% last week with a close on Friday of USD 73.63/b. It traded in a range of USD 71.8-74.17/b. It traded mostly higher through the week despite sharp, new selloffs in equities along with US consumer expectations falling to lowest level since 2013 (Consumer Conf. Board Expectations.) together with signals of new tariffs from the White House. Ahead this week looms the ”US Liberation Day” on April 2 when the White House will announce major changes in the country’s trade policy. Equity markets are down across the board this morning while Brent crude has traded higher and lower and is currently up 0.5% at USD 74.0/b at the moment.
New US sanctions towards Iran and Venezuela and threats of new sanctions towards Russia. New sanctions on Venezuela and Iran are helping to keep the market tight. Oil production in Venezuela reached 980 kb/d in February following a steady rise from 310 kb/d in mid-2020 while it used to produce 2.3 mb/d up to 2016. Trump last week allowed Chevron to import oil from Venezuela until 27 May. But he also said that any country taking oil or gas from Venezuela after 2 April will face 25% tariffs on any goods exported into the US. Trump is also threatening to sanction Russian oil further if Putin doesn’t move towards a peace solution with Ukraine.
The OPEC+ to meet on Saturday 5 April to decide whether to lift production in May or not. The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee will meet on Saturday 5 April to review market conditions, compliance by the members versus their production targets and most importantly decide whether they shall increase production further in May following first production hike in April. We find it highly likely that they will continue to lift production also in May.
OPEC(+) crashed the oil price twice to curb US shale, but it kicked back quickly. OPEC(+) has twice crashed the oil price in an effort to hurt and disable booming US shale oil production. First in 2014/15/16 and then in the spring of 2020. The first later led to the creation of OPEC+ through the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in the autumn of 2016. The second was in part driven by Covid-19 as well as a quarrel between Russia and Saudi Arabia over market strategy. But the fundamental reason for that quarrel and the crash in the oil price was US shale oil producers taking more and more market share.
The experience by OPEC+ through both of these two events was that US shale oil quickly kicked back even bigger and better yielding very little for OPEC+ to cheer about.
OPEC+ has harvested an elevated oil price but is left with a large spare capacity. The group has held back large production volumes since Spring 2020. It yielded the group USD 100/b in 2022 (with some help from the war in Ukraine), USD 81/b on average in 2023/24 and USD 75/b so far this year. The group is however left with a large spare capacity with little room to place it back into the market without crashing the price. It needs non-OPEC+ in general and US shale oil especially to yield room for it to re-enter.
A quick crash and painful blow to US shale oil is no longer the strategy. The strategy this time is clearly very different from the previous two times. It is no longer about trying to give US shale oil producers a quick, painful blow in the hope that the sector will stay down for an extended period. It is instead a lengthier process of finding the pain-point of US shale oil players (and other non-OPEC+ producers) through a gradual increase in production by OPEC+ and a gradual decline in the oil price down to the point where non-OPEC+ in general and US liquids production especially will gradually tick lower and yield room to the reentry of OPEC+ spare capacity. It does not look like a plan for a crash and a rush, but instead a tedious process where OPEC+ will gradually force its volumes back into the market.
Where is the price pain-point for US shale oil players? The Brent crude oil price dropped from USD 84/b over the year to September last year to USD 74/b on average since 1 September. The values for US WTI were USD 79/b and USD 71/b respectively. A drop of USD 9/b for both crudes. There has however been no visible reaction in the US drilling rig count following the USD 9/b fall. The US drilling rig count has stayed unchanged at around 480 rigs since mid-2024 with the latest count at 484 operating rigs. While US liquids production growth is slowing, it is still set to grow by 580 kb/d in 2025 and 445 kb/d in 2026 (US EIA).
US shale oil average cost-break-even at sub USD 50/b (BNEF). Industry says it is USD 65/b. BNEF last autumn estimated that all US shale oil production fields had a cost-break-even below USD 60/b with a volume weighted average just below USD 50/b while conventional US onshore oil had a break-even of USD 65/b. A recent US Dallas Fed report which surveyed US oil producers did however yield a response that the US oil industry on average needed USD 65/b to break even. That is more than USD 15/b higher than the volume weighted average of the BNEF estimates.
The WTI 13-to-24-month strip is at USD 64/b. Probably the part of the curve controlling activity. As such it needs to move lower to curb US shale oil activity. The WTI price is currently at USD 69.7/b. But the US shale oil industry today works on a ”12-month drilling first, then fracking after” production cycle. When it considers whether to drill more or less or not, it is typically on a deferred 12-month forward price basis. The average WTI price for months 13 to 24 is today USD 64/b. The price signal from this part of the curve is thus already down at the pain-point highlighted by the US shale oil industry. In order to yield zero growth and possibly contraction in US shale oil production, this part of the curve needs to move below that point.
The real pain-point is where we’ll see US drilling rig count starting to decline. We still don’t know whether the actual average pain-point is around USD 50/b as BNEF estimate it is or whether it is closer to USD 65/b which the US shale oil bosses say it is. The actual pain-point is where we’ll see further decline in US drilling rig count. And there has been no visible change in the rig count since mid-2024. The WTI 13-to-24-month prices need to fall further to reveal where the US shale oil industry’ actual pain-point is. And then a little bit more in order to slow production growth further and likely into some decline to make room for reactivation of OPEC+ spare capacity.
The WTI forward price curve. The average of 13 to 24 month is now USD 64.3/b.
The average 13-to-24-month prices on the WTI price curve going back to primo January 2022. Recently dropping below USD 65/b for some extended period.
Brent has defied bearish equities for three days but is losing its stamina today. Brent gained 0.3% yesterday with a close of USD 74.03/b, the highest close since 27 February and almost at the high of the day. It traded as low as USD 73.23/b. Brent has now defied the equity selloff three days in a row by instead ticking steadily higher. A sign of current spot tightness. This morning however it is losing some of its stamina and is down 0.5% at USD 73.7/b along with negative equities and yet higher gold prices.
The new US Iran sanctions is creating frictions in getting its oil to market and helps keeping oil market tight. Part of the current tightness is due to the new US sanctions on Iran which. Ships containing 17 mb of its oil now sits idle east of Malaysia waiting (Bloomberg) for ship-to-ship transfers with China teapot refineries the normal final destination. But the latest US sanctions has probably made these refineries much more cautious. More friction before Iranian oil is reaching its final destination if at all. Tighter market.
Lower Saudi OSPs for May is expected. A signal of a softer market ahead as OPEC+ lifts production. Saudi Aramco is expected to reduce it official selling price (OSPs) for Arab Light to Asia for May deliveries by USD 2/b. A measure to make its oil more competitive in relative to other crudes suppliers. It is also a sign of a softer market ahead. Naturally so since OPEC+ is set to lift production in April and also most likely in May. If Saudi Aramco reduces its OSPs to Asia for May across its segments of crudes, then it is a signal it is expecting softer oil market conditions. But news today is only discussing Arab Light while the main tightness int the market today is centered around medium sour crude segment. A lowering of the OSPs for the heavier and more sour grades will thus be a more forceful bearish signal.
Front-end backwardation may ease as the Brent May contract rolls off early next week. The Brent May future will roll off early next week. It will be interesting to see how that affects the front-end 1-3mth backwardation as it is shifted out into summer where a softer market is expected.
Brent is boring like crazy with 30dma annualized volatility of just 21%. Waiting for something to happen.
Brent crude has defied three days of bearish equity markets and ticked higher instead. Caving in a bit this morning with yet another day of bearish equities and bullish gold.
Brent on a rollercoaster between bullish sanctions and bearish tariffs. Tariffs and demand side fears in focus today
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