Gas consumption rebounded by 10% year-on-year in key EU markets in the first quarter of 2015 and prompt prices in Northwest Europe have remained stable at about $7 per million Btu, with partly oil-indexed term prices not much stronger. But the comparison is against 2014, when EU gas use fell 11% to its lowest in nearly two decades. Societe Generale senior analyst Thierry Bros cautions against "being fooled" by this year's demand increase, noting that 2014 was the warmest in the UK since 1659 and thus "there was always an expectation of higher consumption in Ql 2015" (WGI Apr. 1'15). Eurogas has also said that 2014 was the warmest year on record for Germany and the Netherlands, while French gas grid operator GRTgaz said the same of France (WGI Jan.28'15). SocGen data for eight countries accounting for 63% of total EU gas use — including the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain — show gas consumption in January-March was 10.2% higher year-on-year, and up 10% in March.
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