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Spanish gas demand forecasts cut further

  • Spanish Market: Natural gas
  • 31/05/13

London, 31 May (Argus) — Unexpectedly weak power sector gas consumption has forced Spanish gas system operator Enagas to again cut its demand expectations for 2013, leaving the country looking even more oversupplied.

Power sector gas demand is now expected to fall by 14.9pc this year to just 72TWh, the least since 2004, when power sector gas demand totalled 66.7TWh, as utilisation rates at Spain's fleet of combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants continues to languish at record lows. Spain had 8.2GW of CCGT generation at the close of 2004, while at the start of this year it had 25.3GW.

At the start of this year, Enagas had expected power sector gas demand to edge only 0.7pc lower this year, to 84.1TWh, reasoning that CCGT utilisation rates had likely already fallen as much as they could. But Enagas' view was based on the assumption of normal weather conditions, whereas rainfall has proven to be far higher than normal — over the first three months of the year, 30pc more rain fell than the long-term average. Accordingly, hydropower generation has been unusually strong, accounting for nearly 17pc of Spanish power production so far this year, up from just 6.7pc during the first five months of 2012.

The further reduction in forecast power sector gas demand means that Enagas now expects Spain to consume just 354.9TWh this year, a 2.1pc decline from 2012. In January, it had expected demand to rise by 0.5pc to 364.4TWh, while in March it revised its demand forecast to 361.4TWh, a 0.3pc year-on-year decline.

And taking into account cushion gas injections and exports to Portugal, Enagas now expects the total draw on the Spanish system this year to fall by 2.2pc on the year to 410TWh. In January, it had expected the system draw to rise by 0.8pc to 422TWh, while in March it revised the expected draw to 419TWh, flat to 2012.

In particular, far less cushion gas is now set to be injected than previously anticipated, after only a small proportion of the 10.7TWh needed at the new Castor facility was actually secured in an auction conducted by power market operator Omel earlier this month. Only 2.2TWh is now expected to be injected into the new Yela and Castor facilities this year.

The weaker call on the Spanish system means that the country now looks about 37TWh oversupplied — up from 28TWh in March and 31.9TWh in January — against the 447.1TWh of contracted supply that importers have reported to energy regulator CNE. That 37TWh would be the equivalent of about 5.5mn m³ of LNG, or 38.3 standard 145,000m³ cargoes — 5.3 cargoes more than in January.

Traders have argued that weaker interest in spot LNG cargoes in the Atlantic basin this spring could hinder Spanish re-exports, forcing the country to turn down its pipeline gas imports — or even reverse the flow of gas in the bi-directional pipeline on the French border at Larrau.

In the 12 months to the end of April, Spanish pipeline gas imports were up by 13.6pc year on year, with Algerian imports up by 14.5pc and imports from France up by 10pc. Traders have frequently argued that Spain's appetite for pipeline gas, which has allowed the country to re-export far more LNG cargoes than would have been made available just by the weakness of domestic demand — has been crucial to supporting prompt gas prices in southern France, which remain the highest of all the liquid traded hubs in western Europe.

But rising global LNG demand could yet provide an outlet for Spain's surplus supply. Following further nuclear shutdowns in South Korea — after more forged safety certificates were uncovered — and with temperatures in Japan forecast to climb above seasonal norms for the July-August power demand peak, interest in Asia-Pacific for spot LNG cargoes has begun to pick up, traders say.

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