Energy users wait for lower price after intervention bill

Following the passing of the energy reform bill in Canberra last Thursday, end users are waiting to see when the price of gas and electricity starts to match the caps imposed in the wholesale market.

Prior to the passing of the intervention bill, end users were looking at gas deals above $30/GJ. Now a cap of $12/GJ has been imposed, what will be the offer price to gas consumers? AGL have been quoted,

“as soon as the legislation is passed, they will try to get some better offers”

The legalisation covers uncontracted wholesale gas and capping this portion of the market at $12/GJ may not see the benefits flow through to end users.

Large end users of gas have the option to procure gas from the spot market, this segment of the market is not covered by the $12/GJ cap so prices in the gas spot market are likely to be higher than $12/GJ. So, with coal prices peaking again above $300/t is there the potential for gas to now be the transitional fuel to renewables?

The war in Ukraine has influenced the transition to renewables and potentially speed the process up worldwide. European countries are now less likely to take significant volumes of gas from Russia, so they will be looking at alternative fuel sources. As a result of the gas supply issues out of Russia, some European countries are reviving their coal fired generation fleet while they transition to renewables.

While international gas prices remain high, Australian gas producers have been very vocal in leaving the domestic gas market alone and let it work as intended. They argue the gas market will fix itself, higher prices will signal the investment in new supply, resulting in lower long term energy prices.

The gas market is currently proving to be very profitable for producers at the expense of end users. A recent report from the regulators exposed that the majority of offers for 2023 gas were over $30/GJ and a report out of AEMO shows the cost of production is $9.50/GJ or below. With a potential continuation of the $20/GJ profit for gas producers they will be pushing to make gas the transitional fuel and push out the coal industry.oc

While the intervention bill is designed to be in place for 12 months, the ACCC has flagged an extension to the reasonable pricing framework saying they,

“would be expected to be required until domestic gas prices are reflective of the underlying costs of production and that there is sufficient supply at these prices”.

At Edge2020 we will continue to monitor both the gas and electricity markets to understand the impacts these market caps will have on the prices offered to end users.

Edge2020 have an eye on the energy market, enabling us to support price  benefits as well as customer supply and demand agreements. Our clients rely on our experts to ensure they are informed, equipped, and ideally positioned to make the right decisions at the right time. If you could benefit from an expert eye on your energy portfolio, we’d love to meet you. Contact us on: 1800 334 336 or email: info@edge2020.com.au

Federal and State Government agree to power bill

On Friday National cabinet met and agreed on the states introducing a cap on wholesale gas and coal. The temporary cap will be set at $12/GJ for gas and $125/t on coal. The caps will not enforce on export contracts therefore not limiting the opportunities on high international prices.

During the meeting it was agreed that the states would sort out the coal cap and the federal government would change laws to legislate the $12/GJ cap on domestic gas. As the caps are focused on the domestic market, they will only have a small impact on the profitability of producers. It is anticipated that only 4% of gas and 10% of coal will be affected by the cap, the remaining volumes will be exposed to international markets.

As the states have been tasked with implementing the cap it is likely they will go down different routes in achieving the same outcomes. The simplest state to implement the changes will be Queensland as the government still owns and control 80% of the coal fired generation fleet. Queensland will likely use its directive powers and instruct its government owned corporations (GOCs) to dispatch the coal assets below specific prices. NSW will likely use changes in law to cap the price for the state.

In line with the price caps, national cabinet also discussed an assistance package to lower the impact on families and business as a result of high inflation and high commodity prices.

The cap mechanism will be used for uncontracted gas and coal, this may have limited impacts on generators as the majority of coal and gas has already been produced under longer term contracts with strike price below the proposed caps.

At this stage it is unlikely that the mechanism will be in place until February despite federal politicians being recalled to Canberra on Thursday to discuss the issue. While the bill will get the support of the House of representatives it is expected the Greens will put pressure on the Government in the Senate to limit any compensation for the coal producers.

When the futures market opened on Monday morning it was evident the traders expect the caps to flow into the market. Both QLD and NSW futures dropped by $20/MWh for later dated quarters and over $30/MWh for Q123.

Edge2020 have an eye on the energy market, enabling us to support customer supply and demand agreements. Our clients rely on our experts to ensure they are informed, equipped, and ideally positioned to make the right decisions at the right time. If you could benefit from an expert eye on your energy portfolio, we’d love to meet you. Contact us on: 1800 334 336 or email: info@edge2020.com.au

Winter is coming

Now I am a major Game of Thrones fan, but I never thought moving to Australia that I would turn into Ned Stark and constantly worry about a Northern Hemisphere Winter. But, as we are hurtling towards those cooler months in t’north and following the tumultuous Q2 and start of Q3 in the NEM, I am preaching that the Northern ‘Winter is Coming’ and even down here in Australia we must be ready.

As background Northern Europe, UK, France, Belgium, Germany etc., rely on feeds of Gas from Norway and Russia. Gas is significant in Europe as a 1-degree shift in temperature can result in around 5% of domestic demand increase, or decrease, due to most homes being heated via Gas-Central heating. With a third La Niña about to be called in the Southern hemisphere and La Niña, correlated with colder winters in Europe, with increased snowfall, as it shifts the jet stream north to the pole and increases storms across Northern Europe, this can only mean an increase this heating demand.

This confluence of events would usually increase my concern for a tight supply in the European market, but this year is different. Ignoring for now the Russian flows, we will circle back to that later, Norway’s Energy Minister has already raised the possibility that they may restrict electricity exports with possible restrictions to Gas flows as well. With much of their electricity coming from hydro, and after an un-seasonably warm summer period, Norway has stated the priority will be to refill the reservoirs over winter, rather than secure the energy supply of their European neighbours. With this flow being restricted into Northern Europe, coupled with a diminishing fleet of coal and nuclear options, gas will be the favoured source of domestic supply for Northern Europe. Although there are other interconnectors, it is anticipated these will either be significantly under utilised or such a price differential within a domestic market will occur to ensure flows to a single market will ensue. This could be facilitated by pushing those areas (countries) price up to exorbitant amounts to ensure flow across the interconnector and shore up domestic supply. With flows of course favouring higher priced regions.

Now let’s put Russia into the mix. Russia announced this week that the Nord-Stream 1 pipeline, a crucial pipeline for gas flow into Europe, required maintenance from the 31st August. This happens to coincide with European markets trying to firm up winter supply by filling storage and Russia increasing aggression to the Ukraine, but I am sure that was a coincidence.

The 3-day maintenance will have a return to service for the 2nd September. But how likely is this to return? Well, if the last outage is anything to go by, where only 40% of the required flow reached Europe and the delivery of the required turbine was strangely delayed, the price increase was significant and totally in Russian control. Now with this latest outage and flows expected to be around 5% of the obligations agreed with the EU, the cynic in me wondered if Putin is trying to offset the sanctions place on Russia by pushing the cost of Gas to exorbitant amounts. If he can sell his 5% for the same as the revenue from the already inflated 40% and free the remaining gas for sale to more amiable neighbours, he is in a win-win situation.

The real fear is that this flow remains low for the whole of Europe’s winter, which would not only put massive strain on the cost of generation but also lead to many retailers simply not able to meet their obligations and go under. There is also a risk of lack of supply and therefore blackouts as well as increasing costs on an already strained economic environment.

To mitigate this, European generators are throwing out their climate targets with the baby and the bath water in favour of supply and are scrambling to shore up gas supply and return coal-fired power stations from cold storage. The Mehrun Coal-Fired Power plant in Saxony Germany came back online at the start of August, Uniper have just announced they are re-commissioning the Heyden plant in North Rhine-Westphalia and in the UK, the government has made moves to re-open the rough gas storage facility, 25% of it initially, ignoring the safety concerns which led to its original closure. But this will not be enough, and this is where Australia needs to brace itself for a secondary wave of impacts.

LNG and coal exports into Europe will increase, as the price differential will be significant. The ensuing impact through the JKM on the domestic gas market, and coal export price will affect the replenishment of the longer-term running costs of our own generators.

Although significant volume should be pre-hedged, these prices will start feeding through, nothing is stopping the trading opportunity cost being passed through by generators. They will argue the replenishment of the stockpile will need to factor these spot and forwards prices, interesting that doesn’t flow through in a bear’s market though.  What does that mean for our summer, well it means the high prices aren’t going anywhere fast. The shortage of supply in the NEM may be diminished, with most, if not all units now returned from overhaul, yet the price is continuing to take advantage of, and reflect the international fundamentals rather than the real long run average cost of the asset.

With the Capacity Mechanism being put on ice and strengthening Safeguard Mechanisms already announced by the Labor Government, coupled with favourable international fundamental conditions providing political cover for generators, could this be the last hurrah for coal and gas generators to eek the last value from these assets?

Either way be under no illusions, with the Northern winter hurtling towards us, European prices already building in shortfalls in supply and no end to the Ukraine conflict in sight, the Vega sensitivity is going off the chart and is not going to be subsiding anytime soon. As such Australia, and especially its energy markets need to brace, for the fallout.

To circle back to Game of Thrones, Ramsay Bolton stated, “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention” for ‘winter is coming’ and we must be prepared.

Market Update – Q3 2022 to date

As we move out of Q2 2022, a quarter that we have never seen behave in this way before, it is interesting to see how things have changed in Q3 to date.

Why was Q2 2022 so controversial? Well, we saw record spot prices, record forward prices, caps put on the gas market, caps put in place in the electricity market, market direction, the activation of Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) and eventually suspension of the National Electricity Market (NEM). As we moved through Q3 has the situation changed?

To make this decision we must first review Q2, to assist us in understanding if things are going to change. What caused all the market intervention in Q2 and the eventual market suspension?

Q2 is normally a quiet time in the NEM, demand is low, and generators take the opportunity to take units offline for routine planned overhauls. The drop in availability that results from the units on overhaul are normally soaked up by the remaining units online. This Q2 we saw a lower than normal number of units online across the NEM to take up this slack, namely Callide C4 that was offline due to the catastrophic failure in May 2021, Swanbank E and thermal generators dispatching less volume due to flooding across NSW and QLD reducing coal supplies.

Q2 2022 saw average spot prices more than double compared with recent years and peaked at the end of the quarter. The average for Q2 2022 reached $332/MWh in Qld, $302/MWh in NSW, SA at $257/MWh and VIC the lowest, at $224/MWh.

Interestingly the quarterly average price for NSW and QLD was above where the Administered Price Cap (APC). The APC is triggered when the sum of the previous 7 days trading intervals equals $1,359,100. The price is then capped at $300/MWh and remains in place at least until the end of the trading day.

Q2 2022 was a quarter of extreme price, low availability, and market interventions. In Queensland for example we saw 42 hours of spot prices below $0/MWh but also 32 hours above $1,000/MWh. While we did not see a significant number of prices reaching the market cap of $15,100/MWh we did see solid prices that increased the average to levels not normally seen in Q2.

During Q2, exacerbating the issue, we saw significant volume bid in below $0/MWh so units would remain online, however with little between this price and higher prices meant there was a visible gap in the bid stack until prices were over $300/MWh. This distribution was a result of higher fuel cost such as spot gas at $40/GJ which converts to a generation price of over $400/MWh. However, we also saw the emergence of strategic bidding that introduced volatility and higher average prices into the market. The result of the strategic bidding was spot prices for the majority of the time across the NEM were above $100/MWh and often above $300/MWh.

As coal supplies became limited due to flooding, the gas price also jumped due to the global supply issues caused by the war in Ukraine. These fundamentals led to the spot prices increasing and eventually forcing the market operator to cap the market when the Administered Price Cap was reached. APC put a cap of $300/MWh on the electricity spot market.

As a result of the APC, generators removed capacity out of the market rather than operating at a loss due to their higher spot fuel cost. This resulted in the removal of over 3,000MW of generation in which forced AEMO to intervene in the market and direct units online as well as being forced to activate RERT to maintain system security.

Over a few days operating under the APC the market became impractical to operate using directions and AEMO eventually suspended the market on 15 June 2022.

During market suspension AEMO took over the control of the dispatch of market participants units.

Simultaneously during the market suspension, availability returned to the market as units returned from overhauls, coal and gas supply restriction improved and trading strategies were reviewed by the market participants.

On 24 June 2022 AEMO lifted the suspension of the market and the NEM returned to normal operation.

Since the lifting of the market suspension and the commencement of Q3 we have seen a change in some behavior, however spot prices remain high. In the first week of Q3 market participants took advantage of market conditions of low intermittent generation ensuring they benefitted from the ability to increase volatility. In the first week spot price hit the new maximum price cap of $15,500/MWh on several occasions.

While these price spike has lifted the quarterly average for the first 21 days of Q3 to $466/MWh in QLD and $418/MWh in NSW we are seeing this average drop each day.

The main driver for the lower spot prices is, as mentioned before, the improved availability across the NEM. Availability in QLD is regularly reaching 9,000MW compared to in June when it dropped 6,600MW. The short-term outlook for generation continues to improve daily with the majority of planned outages now completed.

A secondary driver that has pushed down average prices is the return of the sun. Solar generation is now regularly pushing the spot price below $100/MWh and on some occasions back into negative territory.

Less volatility in the spot market has been reflected in the forward market with Q422 QLD dropping from over $270/MWh in June to $260/MWh and the Q123 product dropping below $250/MWh.

Without delving into the gas supply concerns in Victoria, all other states have removed the price cap on gas allowing the market to operate more efficiently. This has not resulted in the gas market trading at significantly high prices as feared, Qld is $42.75/GJ, NSW is $51.51/GJ and SA at $45.51, translating into a sub $500/MWh peaking gas plant cost of generation.

As the weather warms up and the daylight hours increase, we expect to see a drop in demand, with heating loads reducing coupled with an increase in the generation provided by solar.

All of this, as well as increased thermal generator availability and stability in the gas markets, should see spot and forward prices continue to fall across the quarter.

Is UFE the UIG of Australia?

Anyone who knew me in my past life in the UK knows that I harped on about Unidentified Gas (UIG) A LOT!

The idea behind UIG is simple, allocate the gas which couldn’t be attributed to a meter in an area across all end users in that area, in which it was used (off-taken). Seems simple right. But when was the last time you actually gave a meter reading? Possibly six months to a year ago? Well that means your off-take (unless you are on a smart meter) is estimated and you will be either over or under on allocated unidentified gas.

Although this seems sensible with everyone eventually giving a meter read and therefore it will all work out in the wash, what exacerbates the issue, especially at the moment, is the extreme increase in the gas price at which these charges are now passed through to retailers and then in turn our bills.

Now what does understating this UK gas usage or allocation have to do with Australia? Well, quite a lot. The system is similar, but not the same.

Following Global Settlements being introduced by AEMO we have started seeing Australia’s version of these charges coming into our bills. We allocate the unidentified – called Unaccounted for Energy (UFE) within each region by the off-takers in that area.

What we are not doing yet, which in the UK’s defense they do there (through XOServe), is take into account those meters which are half hourly ready (smart(er) meters) and therefore their usage should be known. Currently in Australia the offtake in a region will be directly linked to your proportion of an energy being allocated to you and you literally have no say in these charges, despite having updated metering capability.

The sore point of it all is that this is occurring at a time when our electricity market is extremely high and therefore there is a possibility of the combination of large UFEs  being passed through to end users at high prices, with companies having no control over the volume or price it is passed through at. This is leading to significant shocks to companies’ outgoings, as there is little to no visibility on the charge on any given month, and no way to forecast them to budget.

I fear that UFE will become my new soap box issue, and I can guarantee this isn’t the last anyone will hear on this. I am pretty sure I won’t be the only one who will be making noise.

Is this happening to your business? If you feel you need more control of your company’s energy spend, please reach out to discuss joining our Edge Utilities Power Portfolio (EUPP) where we use the power of bulk purchasing to help Australian businesses of all sizes save on their energy bills. Read more: https://edgeutilities.com.au/edge-utilities-power-portfolio/ or call us on: 1800 334 336 to discuss. 

 

AEMO Suspends the Market

Below is the media release from AEMO after it suspended the National Electricity market at 14:05 today.

AEMO today announced that it has suspended the spot market in all regions of the National Electricity Market (NEM) from 14:05 AEST, under the National Electricity Rules (NER).

AEMO has taken this step because it has become impossible to continue operating the spot market while ensuring a secure and reliable supply of electricity for consumers in accordance with the NER.

The market operator will apply a pre-determined suspension pricing schedule for each NEM region. A compensation regime applies for eligible generators who bid into the market during suspension price periods.

In making the announcement AEMO CEO, Daniel Westerman, said the market operator was forced to direct five gigawatts of generation through direct interventions yesterday, and it was no longer possible to reliably operate the spot market or the power system this way.

“In the current situation suspending the market is the best way to ensure a reliable supply of electricity for Australian homes and businesses,” he said.

“The situation in recent days has posed challenges to the entire energy industry, and suspending the market would simplify operations during the significant outages across the energy supply chain.”

Edge wish to reiterate, this is not a physical supply issue. AEMO directed 5GWhs of physical generation into the market. If generators can operate when under direction, they do not have a physical reason to not generate (such as maintenance, overhaul etc), so the reduced availability we are seeing has to be a commercial trading decision to either price volume into higher price bands or to remove availability in the maximum availability bands of their bids. The availability is there, the generators are just not offering it via the spot market.

The market suspension is temporary, and will be reviewed daily for each NEM region. When conditions change, and AEMO is able to resume operating the market under normal rules, it will do so as soon as practical.

Mr Westerman said price caps coupled with significant unplanned outages and supply chain challenges for coal and gas, were leading to generators removing capacity from the market.

He said this was understandable, but with the high number of units that were out of service and the early onset of winter, the reliance on directions has made it impossible to continue normal operation.

The current energy challenge in eastern Australia is the result of several factors – across the interconnected gas and electricity markets. In recent weeks in the electricity market, we have seen:

  • A large number of generation units out of action for planned maintenance – a typical situation in the shoulder seasons.
  • Planned transmission outages.
  • Periods of low wind and solar output.
  • Around 3000 MW of coal fired generation out of action through unplanned events.
  • An early onset of winter – increasing demand for both electricity and gas.

“We are confident today’s actions will deliver the best outcomes for Australian consumers, and as we return to normal conditions, the market based system will once again deliver value to homes and businesses,” he said.

What does it mean for generators and end users.

  • Bidding and dispatch will continue as usual under the market rules.
  • Dispatch instructions will be issued electronically via the automatic generation control system as usual
  • If required AEMO may issue dispatch instructions in any other form that is practical in the circumstances.
  • Spot prices and FCAS prices in a suspended region continue to be set in accordance with NEM rules or under the Market Suspension Pricing Schedule.

The Market Suspension Pricing Schedule is published weekly by AEMO and contains prices 14 days ahead.

The market will continue to operate under the Market Suspension Pricing Schedule until the Market operator determines the market is able to return to normal conditions and the suspension is revoked.

Article by Alex Driscoll, Senior Manager – Markets, Trading, and Advisory

Drivers behind potential load shedding

In the energy market, probably not unlike most complex markets / industries, we never let the truth stand in the way of a good mainstream news story. So much so, at Edge we struggle to watch mainstream news!

Yesterday Edge highlighted that a tight supply balance was not the key driver for the unprecedented high prices occurring in the spot and contract markets.

As previously outlined, generators bidding behaviour is playing a pivotal role, lifting the average price in the spot market as their spot traders shift volume into higher price bands. This pushed spot prices so high that on Sunday the market reached the cumulative price threshold (CPT). This means that the sum of spot prices in a seven-day period hit a level which caused AEMO to intervene and cap prices until the market returns below this threshold.

As has been widely discussed on Sunday evening, AEMO stepped in and controlled the spot price once the sum of the previous 2,016 (7 days) trading intervals equalled the cumulative total of $1,359,000. The cumulative CPT is equivalent to an average price of $674.16/MWh for the seven-day period.

During market intervention, spot prices in the relevant region are capped at $300/MWh.  This commenced at 6.55pm on Sunday night in Queensland and will continue until the 7-day average drops below the CPT. Once this is achieved the CPT remains on foot until at least 04:00 the next trading day.

Since Queensland hit the cap on Sunday, we have now seen every mainland region in the National Electricity Market (NEM) also hit the CPT. As at publication, intervention pricing is currently enacted in all of these regions (QLD, NSW, VIC, and SA). Tasmania is currently under threat also.

During market intervention the maximum spot price can only reach $300/MWh (there is also a floor of -$300/MWh). $300/MWh is currently lower than the short run marginal cost (SRMC) of many gas generators when priced against the current gas price, which is also currently capped by AEMO (at $40/GJ).

A consequence of capping these markets is higher priced generation withdraws from the electricity market, as an example gas generator have a Short Run Marginal Cost (SRMC) of generation of roughly $400/MWh based on a fuel cost of $40/GJ, but with a cap of $300/MWh on the electricity generated it results in generators removing their availability from the market which in turn results in regional availability dropping. Hence subsequent threats of power outages and the potential requirement for load shedding.  It’s a case of the market being more under threat from commercial drivers than physical drivers.

The commercial dynamics of the current market create a perceived lack of availability in the market and leads to generators looking to other (non-capped) revenue streams for their generation stack. This is precisely what occurred over Monday with 607MW of availability being removed from QLD available generation, and 930MW removed from NSW. The drop in dispatchable generation resulted in AEMO publishing a Lack of Reserve (LOR) forecast and requests by AEMO for a market response. Rather than this call being answered, generators held firm and did not place generation back into the traditional bid stacks.  Across Monday the LOR dropped further as more generation disappeared into the ancillary market and as we approached the evening peak AEMO called an LOR3, which resulted in AEMO also calling on Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) providers to fill the availability gap.

Overnight AEMO’s action on calling RERT prevented load shedding, however this may not be the case in NSW tonight where 590MW of load is forecast to be interrupted at 19:00. If there is insufficient support under RERT to compensate for this supply shortage, we could see load shedding.

With all mainland NEM regions currently operating under the CPT we expect to see more market intervention, and those generators exposed to a capped gas price removing volume out of the market as electricity prices are capped at levels below their SRMC. This is likely to see AEMO needing to intervene in other regions, invoking RERT to source additional availability, or failing that load shedding.

Article by Alex Driscoll and Stacey Vacher.

What’s Oil got to do with it?

There is no doubt that energy markets and the energy industry itself are rapidly evolving and moving away from fossil fuels. The evolution of energy seems to be coming, and only coming faster given this tumultuous time the people and countries across the world have endured. Lets start with oil; Australian’s across the nation are very aware of the recent global oil price crash to new historic levels, particularly when it is reported in the news headlines that Australian’s are seeing almost 15-year lows at the petrol bowser. The impact of the recent oil price crash however does not stop at the bowser, it has and will continue to have significant impacts on energy markets across the globe including in Australia.

Oil prices have been hit recently due to two major events; one being the global epidemic of COVID-19, resulting in a significant reduction in demand for oil across the globe. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) April 2020 reports an expected drop in demand of global oil of 9.3 million barrels(mb)/day year on year for 2020, with April 2020 demand estimated to be lower than 2019’s demand by 29 mb/day. The second impact to oil markets has been the oil price and supply war between OPEC’s pseudo leader Saudia Arabia and non-OPEC nation, Russia, two of the largest global oil exporters. Saudi Arabia and Russia could not agree levels of supply, leading to Saudia Arabia flooding the market with oil and prices, both spot and futures, reaching new lows. The quarrel between the two global oil market power-houses and the impacts of the COVID-19 on demand for oil has led to the historical event where the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price index fell into negative price territory, with May 2020 future prices settling at -USD$37.63/barrel on the 20/04/2020, after reaching a low of -USD$40.32/barrel earlier that day.

The major oil index, WTI, saw futures prices for June 2020 contracts settling at around USD$17/barrel on the 29/04/2020, whilst Brent Crude, another major oil index also felt the pain of slowing demand, with prices dropping below USD$20/barrel on the 27/04/2020. But the impact of tumbling oil prices reaches far and wide, particularly here in Australia. Australia has a booming natural gas industry and was the largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) as of January 2020. A significant number of gas sales agreements are linked to the crude oil indices, with Australian gas companies feeling the hurt given the tumble in oil prices. Brent Crude oil futures for June 2020 contracts settled at around USD$24/barrel on the 29/04/2020. At these prices, the likes of Santos and Oil Search will be hurting given both flagged a cashflow breakeven oil price of ~USD$25-29/barrel, and USD$32-33/barrel, respectively. Demand for natural gas in international markets has also tumbled, and due to the linkage between oil prices and gas contracts, spot contract prices have shifted down, with June 2020 contracts settling at AUD$2.87/GJ (~USD$1.88/GJ) as of the 30/04/2020, again a far reach from prices seen in November 2019 of ~AUD$7.30/GJ (~USD$5/GJ).

Further impacts of the oil market crash on gas markets has been cheaper domestic gas prices for consumers. Queensland, the largest gas extractor and exporter on the east coast has seen prices in its short-term trading market (STTM) in Brisbane reach as low as AUD$2.31/GJ in March 2020, a significant drop from AUD$9-11/GJ we witnessed the same in 2019. Other energy commodities have also seen a decline off the back of the oil price tumble, including thermal coal. As stated above, with gas prices domestically and internationally falling away, thermal coal prices have come off due to energy users opting for cheaper fuel sources such as oil and gas. Spot thermal coal contracts for the May 2020 settled at USD$52.35/metric ton(mt) on 30/04/2020, far softer than spot prices a year ago at ~USD$90/mt.

This brings us to the all-important energy market and commodity, electricity, which with all the above combined has seen electricity prices fall off a cliff. The National Electricity Market (NEM) in the last few years has been on a renewable power growth spurt. Queensland for instance has the highest penetration of large scale solar generation of approximately ~2,400 MW and a significant penetration of rooftop solar reaching ~2,100 MW, combine them together and on a mild April day in 2020, you have almost 2 thirds of maximum demand. With renewable energy displacing thermal/fossil fuels, off the back of reducing pricing for the technology and subsidies in the form of renewable energy certificates (RECs), combined with both far cheaper gas prices allowing gas plant to bid in and capture price spikes due to their fast-start and intermittent operating capabilities, and reduced demand for electricity due to the impact of COVID-19 with business and industry operating skeletally, electricity prices continue to sit at prices not witnessed since 2016.

All the above has been caused by two events, both significant to the global economy, and the energy industry in their own rights. One thing is for sure, the events have helped push the electricity market on the East Coast of Australia into a new direction far quicker than it may have if the two COVID-19 and the oil price crash did not occur. We are seeing new market design concepts (ie. capacity markets, two-sided markets) and new contract market products (ie. super-peak swap) coming to light, that give way to new technologies and greater competition. The abundance of natural gas in Australia is affordable for households for heating and is finally being utilised as the ‘transition’ or bridging fuel it was always pegged as, to renewable energy in the wholesale market. One thing is for certain, change is afoot, and it definitely has me excited.

If you have any questions regarding this article or the electricity market in general, call Edge on 07 3905 9220 or 1800 334 336.

History making Oil price – what it means for Energy in Australia

Overnight the major oil price index, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Oil Index fell from trading at USD$20.97/barrel to enter negative price territory for the first time in history, with May 2020 future prices settling at -USD$37.63/barrel on the 20/04/2020, after reaching a low of -USD$40.32/barrel. The event was sparked off the back of increasing storage concerns given excess supply build-up brought on by suppressed demand as a result of COVID-19. The recent announcement by OPEC + to cut demand by 9.7 million barrels a day in May and June months, and the additional 5 million barrels per day to be cut by other nations outside of OPEC and Russia, including the US, Canada and Brazil has done little to quash concerns of an oil supply glut with consultancy firm Rystad Energy estimating demand will be cut by 27 million barrels a day in April and 20 million into May as a result of COVID-19’s impact on global usage.

The market for WTI Crude Oil entered con-tango yesterday (20/04) with spot prices significantly lower than future prices for the commodity, however today (21/04) it has bounced back breaching positive price territory sitting above USD$1.00/barrel at 3:30pm (EST). Brent Crude Oil prices however remained relatively static on the 20/04, ending the day in the mid $USD20/barrel range at USD$26.04/barrel, despite the traditional correlation of trading between WTI and Brent Crude oil prices. So why is the oil price so important to Australia, well as Edge has previously pointed out in the past, a significant number of long-term gas deals are linked to an oil price index, likely Brent but also WTI. This has huge ramifications for Australia who became the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as of January 2020 this year, a commodity and industry which also contributes massively to the Australian economy.

With LNG sales effectively hitched to oil prices, I can only imagine what the contract price for some of the underpinning investment and long-term contracts of domestic and international gas looks like! We have witnessed that domestic gas prices across the NEM and international LNG Spot market prices have both taken a dive off the back of the recent oil price and supply war and the impacts to demand from COVID-19. Currently the ACCC has calculated LNG netback contract prices of gas to the Wallumbilla Hub (domestic gas hub connecting gas from QLD to southern states) at prices of AUD$3.73/GJ and AUD$3.60/GJ for April and May 2020, the cheapest price the commodity has been in the last 4 years, with future prices looking likely to hit $3/GJ. Currently the JKM (Japan Korea Marker) spot LNG market index for Asia – which is a significant demand hub for Australian spot LNG cargoes – is depicting prices of AUD$3.39/GJ for future contracts for June 2020 as of 20/04/202, however given the recent negative price event in international oil prices it is likely these future contract prices could fall further.

With LNG markers like the JKM heavily correlated to movement of oil prices it is likely we will not see a return to the AUD $8/GJ JKM Swap price for some time. The oil price slump is also expected to impact investment decisions, as once again the gas industry and heavily correlated to global oil prices. Majority of the domestic gas players including Oil Search and Senex Energy are gearing up for extended periods of reduced returns and cheaper gas prices due to a significant number of gas sales contracts linked to the Brent Crude oil index. Oil Search indicated to the market its break-even oil price range of USD$32-33/barrel, without funding growth projects, well above the current future oil contract prices; whist Senex Energy’s Chief, Ian Davies stated that “Demand has fallen off a cliff,” and that they were “planning for fairly soft prices for a while.” Even the likes of Santos flagged they are aiming for a free-cash flow break-even oil price of USD$25/barrel in 2020, however needs a price of USD$60/barrel to fund new growth projects, which could see the Narrabri project in jeopardy.

What is incredible to see is investment decisions like Arrow Energy’s Surat Gas Project still going ahead even when energy markets are entering unchartered territory. Arrow Energy’s joint owners, Shell and PetroChina have finally given the go ahead to the $10 billion development of Arrow’s vast gas resources located southern Queensland’s Surat basin, sanctioning the commencement of phase 1 of the Surat Gas Project on 17 April 2020. Arrow’s joint owners have decided to push forward with the expansion despite the recent downturn in oil and gas prices felt across the globe due in part to the COVID-19 outbreak and the recent oil price war. The Surat Gas Project is expected to bring on 90 billion cubic feet (~95 PJ) of gas a year, with 600 phase one wells set for construction this year with first gas expected in 2021, according to Arrow’s announcement.

The Surat Gas Project also comprises some big steps for the industry, with the deal underpinned by significant infrastructure collaborations and gas sales agreements which will see Arrow gas compressed and sent to market via Shell’s existing QGC infrastructure (including existing gas and water processing, treatment and transportation infrastructure). Good news for these gas volumes is that part will be allocated for sale into the domestic wholesale gas markets on Australia’s east coast, and part will be allocated to be converted to LNG via QCLNG’s liquified natural gas infrastructure located on Curtis Island, near Gladstone port. This is welcomed news with manufacturing firms across the east coast screaming for further domestic gas reserves to be developed in order to keep domestic gas prices at reasonable levels and increasingly de-linked from international LNG prices and indexes, such as the Japan Korea Marker (JKM).

In addition, it was also announced the Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest-backed LNG import terminal located at Port Kembla in NSW has been given the tick of approval by the NSW State Government. The Australian Industrial Energy venture which is co-backed by the Japanese firm Marubeni and global trading shop JERA in continuing forward with plans to build and operate the Port Kembla import terminal with a likely final investment decision expected later this year and first gas imports in 2022, with customers and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reporting expected shortfalls of the commodity in regions such as Victoria and New South Wales could come as early as 2023, with shortfalls especially apparent into and beyond 2024.  

If you have any questions regarding this article or the electricity market in general, call Edge on 07 3905 9220 or 1800 334 336.

Oil cheaper than Coal!

We have all seen recently the impact that COVID-19 has had on global markets, in terms of stock prices, equity markets and of commodity markets.

Exacerbating this was the poor timing of Saudi Arabia and Russia’s spat over oil prices and both choosing to disagree on production levels, the disagreement lead to Saudi Arabia choosing to flood the oil markets with supply inevitably driving oil prices down significantly, with the WTI Crude Oil index reaching its lowest point in the last 5 plus years or so, trading in the low to mid $USD 20/barrel, also impacting the Brent Crude Oil index, which fell to its lowest point in the last 5 years or so to prices of the high $USD 20/barrel. Both events have lead to something quite astounding, with Bloomberg Green on the 23rd of March 2020 calculating that coal was officially the world’s most expensive fossil fuel.

Source: Bloomberg Green – Bloomberg 2020

This does not come as a huge surprise when the oil price has tanked off the back of a trade war between Saudi Araba and Russia, two of the largest producers of oil in the world. Additionally, international gas prices have also tanked with majority of long-term gas deals linked to an oil price index (likely Brent Crude) and the Japan Korea Marker – a major LNG (liquefied natural gas) index for Asia also falling with a supply glut due to reductions in demand from some of the largest demand centres such as China who went into a full lockdown earlier this year due to COVID-19.

According to Bloomberg calculations (Bloomberg 2020), the significant fall from grace in oil prices has meant that global crude benchmark is now priced below the Australian Newcastle coal index, which sat at $66.85 a metric ton on ICE Futures Europe on the 23/03, equivalent to $27.36 per barrel of oil with Brent futures that day ending at $26.98 per barrel.

If you have any questions regarding this article or the electricity market in general, call Edge on 07 3905 9220 or 1800 334 336.