European gas futures close below $2,500

MOSCOW, August 31 – PRIME. Exchange prices for gas in Europe at the close of trading on Wednesday fell by more than 9%, just below $2,500 per thousand cubic meters, according to the London ICE exchange.

The next – October – futures (according to the index of the largest European hub TTF) opened trading in positive territory and grew as much as possible by 7.2%, approaching $2,950 per thousand cubic meters. After noon, quotes began to decline. As a result, the price minimum was 2414.4 dollars (-12%), and the last futures traded at 2487.4 dollars (-9.3%). The dynamics of quotations is based on the settlement price of the previous day – $2,743.5 per thousand cubic meters.

In early March, gas prices in Europe, due to fears of a ban on the import of Russian energy resources, updated their historical highs for four days in a row. The price record of $3,892 per thousand cubic meters was reached on March 7.

The latest increase in prices on European gas markets was due to uncertainty about gas supplies. On August 19, Gazprom announced that Nord Stream would stop for three days, from August 31 to September 2, due to scheduled maintenance of the only working gas pumping unit at the Portovaya compressor station.

Futures contracts for gas supply in September (under TTF) jumped almost 8% after this news, above $2,700 per thousand cubic meters, and then exceeded $3,500 for the first time since March.

Gazprom confirmed earlier on Wednesday that the supply via Nord Stream had been terminated, and scheduled work on the gas compressor unit was beginning.