Gas prices in Europe fell on the news about Gazprom’s supplies to Italy

MOSCOW, 5 Oct – PRIME. Stock prices for gas in Europe on Wednesday morning after the announcement of “Gazprom” on the resumption of supplies to Italy began to decline, falling by about 1.3% and are at $ 1,650 per thousand cubic meters, according to the London ICE exchange.

Gazprom said earlier on Wednesday that it and buyers in Italy managed to find a solution for Russian gas supplies, and its transport through Austria, stopped on October 1, is being resumed.

Futures contracts on the TTF index opened trading in positive territory, in the first minutes they cost $1,700.6 per thousand cubic meters (+1.5%). So far, the maximum prices have risen to $1,730.7 (+3.3%). However, after Gazprom’s announcement, they dropped sharply to $1,621.9 (-3.2%). As of 9.45 Moscow time, they are at the level of 1653.4 dollars (-1.3%). The dynamics is given from the settlement price of the previous trading day – 1675.6 dollars per thousand cubic meters.

The average settlement price of the nearest futures in September fell to $2,093 (-14.6%). In May, the figure was $1,030, in June it was almost $1,180 (+14.6% on a monthly basis), 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.

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. Quotes jumped above 3500 dollars per thousand cubic meters and updated historical records of the settlement price several times.

The start of a special military operation and related sanctions have affected the decline in Russian gas exports to Europe. Due to non-payment of gas under the new scheme in rubles, Gazprom stopped deliveries to Bulgargaz to Bulgaria, PGNiG to Poland, Gasum to Finland, GasTerra to the Netherlands, as well as Shell Energy Europe to Germany and Orsted to Denmark. Deliveries along the main route, Nord Stream, as well as Yamal-Europe, have ceased, and the Ukrainian gas transmission system has significantly decreased.