Gas futures in Europe show moderate growth

MOSCOW, 30 Aug — PRIME. Gas futures prices in Europe are growing moderately at auction on Tuesday and have not yet exceeded $2,950 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to data from the London-based ICE exchange.

The nearest futures (according to the index of the largest European hub TTF) opened trading at $2,864.4 per thousand cubic meters (+1.7%). So far, Tuesday’s price high is $2,933.6 (+4.1%). As of 10:19 Moscow time, futures are trading at $2,871.6 per thousand cubic meters (+2%). The dynamics of quotations is based on the settlement price of the previous day – $ 2,815.9 per thousand cubic meters.

The day before, exchange gas prices in Europe closed trading with a 17% drop, stopping just above $2,900 per 1,000 cubic meters at the close.

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