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French gas stockbuild slows on weaker LNG supply

  • Märkte: Natural gas
  • 20.10.26

French gas storage injections fell on the week because of lower sendout from LNG facilities and a drop in temperature that boosted heating-related demand.

Firms net injected 41 GWh/d on 13-19 October, down sharply from 341 GWh/d on 6-12 October, and switched to net withdrawals of 210GWh on 19 October. French stocks stood at 108TWh as of the morning of 20 October, equal to an 88pc fill level.

France's supply balance shifted on the week as the country's LNG terminals reduced their sendout by 201 GWh/d on the week to 727 GWh/d, limiting supply available for storage injections. The weaker regasification could be partly attributed to the cancellation of five LNG cargo deliveries to French terminals in the past two weeks, bringing October's expected deliveries down to 26.

Net pipeline imports increased, to 47 GWh/d from 3 GWh/d a week earlier, but this only partly offset the lower sendout.

The increase was mainly driven by a drop in exports to Switzerland at the Oltingue interconnection point, which fell by 47 GWh/d on the week to 213 GWh/d. Imports from Norway and exports to Belgium and Spain remained roughly stable over the past seven days compared with a week earlier.

At the same time, colder weather boosted heating-related gas demand, further tightening the country's supply balance and in turn weighing on supply available for injections.

Aggregate demand rose to 717 GWh/d on 13-19 October from 608 GWh/d a week earlier. Local distribution zone (LDZ) demand rose by 70 GWh/d to 330 GWh/d over the past seven days, as minimum temperatures in Paris dropped to 9.3°C from 9.8°C the previous week, and to 8.3°C from 9°C in Grenoble.

Overall power generation demand increased, causing power-sector gas demand to step up to 107 GWh/d on 13-19 October from 71 GWh/d on 6-12 October. Industrial demand was roughly unchanged.

Looking forward, the weather is forecast to be colder next week, which could further dampen injections. Overnight lows were forecast on Tuesday to average 8.4°C in Paris and 4.5°C in Grenoble on 20-26 October.


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