Continued fall in gas prices

Published:

The price of natural gas fell for the seventh consecutive month and was the main reason behind the 1 per cent drop in the PPI in May. Higher prices on petroleum products contributed in the opposite direction.

Written by: Elisabeth Mælum

The price index for extraction of crude oil and natural gas fell by 2.7 per cent from April to May, according to the total producer price index (PPI). The decrease was due to a fall in the price of natural gas, which has fallen sharply since October last year, down around 45 per cent. Oil prices rose by almost 1 per cent from April to May. However, measured in USD, oil prices fell by just over 1 per cent. Increasing concern for a longstanding trade war between the US and China was one of the reasons behind lower oil prices, measured in USD. In addition, threats of customs on Mexican goods as well as large US crude oil stocks may have had an impact.

Figure 1. Price indices. 2015=100

PPI total PPI excluding energy goods
Jan. 2010 84.3 86.3
Feb. 2010 86.1 87
Mar. 2010 88.1 87.4
Apr. 2010 91.2 87.8
May 2010 90.7 88.5
Jun. 2010 92.8 88.4
Jul. 2010 92.8 88.9
Aug. 2010 93.1 89.1
Sept. 2010 92.8 89.5
Oct. 2010 92.8 89.5
Nov.2010 96.1 90.1
Dec. 2010 100.5 91
Jan. 2011 103 91.6
Feb. 2011 104.2 92.7
Mar. 2011 106.9 92.8
Apr. 2011 109.4 92.9
May 2011 107.1 93.2
Jun. 2011 106.1 92.7
Jul. 2011 107.7 92.7
Aug. 2011 105 92.3
Sept. 2011 106.9 92.1
Oct. 2011 107 92.2
Nov.2011 108.5 91.9
Dec. 2011 108.7 91.9
Jan. 2012 111.1 91.9
Feb. 2012 112.2 92.2
Mar. 2012 113.9 92.6
Apr. 2012 112.1 92.5
May 2012 109.7 92.6
Jun. 2012 105.9 92.9
Jul. 2012 107.1 92.9
Aug. 2012 109.6 92.1
Sept. 2012 108.4 92.3
Oct. 2012 108.8 91.9
Nov.2012 108.5 91.8
Dec. 2012 108.4 91.7
Jan. 2013 108.5 91.7
Feb. 2013 109.1 91.7
Mar. 2013 110.1 92.5
Apr. 2013 110.3 92.4
May 2013 107.9 92.5
Jun. 2013 107.7 92.3
Jul. 2013 110.4 92.9
Aug. 2013 111.4 93.7
Sept. 2013 112 93.5
Oct. 2013 111.3 94
Nov.2013 111.9 94.2
Dec. 2013 113.7 94.5
Jan. 2014 114.2 95.4
Feb. 2014 113.4 95.5
Mar. 2014 110.1 95.4
Apr. 2014 109.6 95.7
May 2014 108.6 95.8
Jun. 2014 109.1 95.7
Jul. 2014 108.5 96.6
Aug. 2014 107.7 97.1
Sept. 2014 107.7 97.4
Oct. 2014 107.5 97.6
Nov.2014 104.5 98.2
Dec. 2014 104.8 99.2
Jan. 2015 100 100.3
Feb. 2015 102.1 100.5
Mar. 2015 103.5 100.2
Apr. 2015 103.5 99.8
May 2015 103.4 99.4
Jun. 2015 103.7 99.5
Jul. 2015 101.4 99.7
Aug. 2015 97 99.8
Sept. 2015 96.8 99.8
Oct. 2015 97.4 99.8
Nov.2015 97.8 100.6
Dec. 2015 93.4 100.6
Jan. 2016 89.2 100.3
Feb. 2016 86.9 100.4
Mars.2016 88 100.4
Apr. 2016 88.7 100.3
May 2016 91.1 100.4
Jun. 2016 93.7 100.3
Jul. 2016 94.1 100.5
Aug. 2016 92.4 100.5
Sept. 2016 91 99.5
Oct. 2016 93 98.8
Nov.2016 95.3 98.8
Dec. 2016 100.2 99.3
Jan. 2017 100.5 99.5
Feb. 2017 103.2 100.5
Mar. 2017 102.2 100.5
Apr. 2017 100 101
May 2017 99.2 101.4
Jun. 2017 96.7 101
Jul. 2017 95.7 101.1
Aug. 2017 96.1 100.9
Sept. 2017 98.9 100.6
Oct. 2017 101.3
Nov.2017 104.6 101.3
Dec. 2017 107.6 101
Jan. 2018 110.9 102.6
Feb. 2018 108.1 103.1
Mar. 2018 108.7 102.7
Apr. 2018 112.3 102.8
May 2018 113.6 103.5
Jun. 2018 116.1 103.6
Jul. 2018 117.3 103.7
Aug. 2018 118 103.8
Sept. 2018 119.7 104
Oct. 2018 124.1 104.3
Nov.2018 120.2 104.1
Des. 2018 115.9 104.1
Jan. 2019 116.3 105.6
Feb. 2019 116.8 105.4
Mar. 2019 114.4 105.6
Apr. 2019 115.2 105.9
May 2019 114.1 105.9

Price decline on mineral products and basic metals

The total price index within manufacturing rose by 0.2 per cent in May.

Industries with price declines that contributed to the fall in the total PPI, were non-metallic mineral products as well as basic metals.

Price rise on oil- and food products

Refined petroleum products as well as food products were most important in bringing up prices within manufacturing in May. Prices on refined petroleum products rose by 0.9 per cent. Food prices rose due to higher export prices on different kinds of fish.

Small decrease in electricity prices

Electricity prices continued to fall in May, down 1.3 percent, same as last month. Both the spot price from Nordpool and the price of electricity sold to Norwegian households dropped. The reason why the price of electricity fell so little was due to price increase of fixed price contracts included in the price index of electricity.