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Highlights
- The rise in gas demand by Asian countries has put a further squeeze on global gas shortage.
- Several Asian economies have shown a rise in demand recently for Jan to March 2022 gas cargo deliveries.
Asian countries have recently shown increased interest in gas amid an ongoing global gas shortage, thus further deepening the global squeeze.
Indian energy companies, Indian Oil Corp and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp recently bought LNG spot cargoes after not being seen in the market for some months, as per a Bloomberg report.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has called on its gas producers to first consider local customers despite historically being a major exporter of the same.
Additionally, other countries in South and Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Bangladesh, are also looking for quick deliveries of their LNG cargoes through tenders that were released just days before.
According to the Bloomberg report, South and Southeast Asian nations have been unusually active for spot gas cargos for Jan to March 2022 delivery.
This recent surge in demand for gas by Asian countries comes amid gas prices touching record highs in Europe and the UK due to a rise in demand following the economy’s recovery from their lows in the pandemic.
It is worth pointing that several energy providers collapsed last year in the UK due to soaring energy prices.
Amid this latest development, let us look at 2 gas utility stocks that are FTSE listed and explore their investment prospects:
- National Grid PLC (LON: NG)
National grid is a UK based international gas and electricity utility group. It belongs to the FTSE 100 index.
The group estimates its underlying EPS’ compound annual growth rate (between 2020/21 to 2025/26) to be between 5 to 7 per cent. Moreover, it expects its FY 2021/22 underlying EPS to be at the higher end of the 5 to 7 per cent range.
The energy group’s shares ended at GBX 1,063.60, lower by 1.34 per cent on 5 January 2022. Its market cap was at £38,471.50 million, and its one-year return was at 22.42 per cent, as of date
The FTSE 100 index, on the other hand, ended at 7,516.87, up by 11.72 points or 0.16 per cent.
- Centrica PLC (LON: CNA)
Centrica is UK based electricity and gas supplier, which is a part of the FTSE 250 index. The company recently stated its plans to offload its Spirit Energy’s Norwegian oil and gas assets from its portfolio.
The deal is expected to close in Q2 of this year. The group’s share of proceeds from the transaction is expected to be around £560 million. Centrica has a 69 per cent ownership of Spirit Energy.
Image source: EODHD/Others
The energy group’s shares ended at GBX 73.52, lower by 0.41 per cent on 5 January 2022. Its market cap was at £4,324.03 million, and its one-year return was at 53.84 per cent, as of date.
The FTSE 250 index, on the other hand, ended at 23,771.18, down by 125.47 points, or 0.53 per cent.
