Exchange gas prices in Europe accelerated the pace of decline

MOSCOW, 7 Sep — PRIME. Exchange prices for gas in Europe at the auction on Wednesday fall by 13%, being at a level slightly above $2,100 per thousand cubic meters, according to trading data.

The nearest – October – futures (on the index of the largest European hub TTF) opened trading at $2,456.8 per thousand cubic meters (+0.1%). As of 17.57 Moscow time prices are at the level of 2128 dollars (-13.7%). The maximum quotes fell to 2111.4 dollars (-14%). The dynamics of quotations is based on the settlement price of the previous day – $2,455.2 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.

Gas prices continue to be under pressure due to the uncertainty with supplies from Russia. The latest explosive growth at the end of August was associated with Gazprom’s announcement that the Nord Stream gas pipeline was suspended for three days for scheduled maintenance. Quotes jumped above 3500 dollars per thousand cubic meters and updated historical records of the settlement price several times. On Friday, Gazprom announced a complete shutdown of the gas pipeline to Europe due to an oil leak detected at the only operating Trent 60 unit.

The downtime of Nord Stream deprives Europe of up to 33 million cubic meters of gas per day, or about 1 billion cubic meters per month. Such losses are superimposed on the previous reduction in supplies from Russia via Nord Stream and other routes by at least 8-9 billion cubic meters per month.

The average monthly settlement price of gas in Europe has been growing for the fourth month. The indicator in May was 1030 dollars, in June – almost 1180 dollars (+14.6% in monthly terms), and in July – about 1805 dollars (+53%). Already in August, the figure slightly exceeded $2,450 (+35.7%). And on August 26, the estimated price even reached a record $3,507 per thousand cubic meters.