Gas prices in Europe fell below $1,600 per thousand cubic meters

MOSCOW, 13 Oct – PRIME. Exchange prices for gas in Europe are traded on Thursday morning slightly lower than the settlement price the day before, about $1,595 per thousand cubic meters, according to the London ICE exchange.

Thursday’s next trades – with delivery in November – futures on the TTF index opened with a decrease of 1.6%, at the level of 1,580 dollars per thousand cubic meters. As of 9:52 Moscow time, the price of gas in Europe was $1,595 (-0.7%). The dynamics is based on the settlement price of Wednesday, the previous trading day – 1,606.7 dollars per thousand cubic meters.

Current gas prices are several times higher than last year, when gas prices were already at record levels.

The average settlement price of the nearest futures in September, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on ICE data, fell to $2,093 (-14.6% on a monthly basis). In May, the figure was $1,030, in June it was almost $1,180 (+14.6%), and in July it was about $1,805 (+53%). In August, the price slightly exceeded $2,450 (+35.7%), which was a record in the history of gas hubs in Europe since 1996.

But back 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 last explosive growth, at the end of August, was associated with the announcement of Gazprom about the suspension of the Nord Stream gas pipeline for three days for scheduled maintenance.