Novak expects European gas exchange prices to continue rising in winter

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, 4 Sep — PRIME. The collapse in the energy markets of Europe is not the limit, ahead is a winter full of unpredictability, when exchange prices for gas can continue to grow, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

“The short-sighted policy leads to the fact that we are seeing a collapse in the energy markets of Europe. And this is not the limit, because we are still in the warm season, we have winter ahead, and there are a lot of unpredictable things,” Novak said in an interview. Pavel Zarubin in the program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin”, commenting on the situation with exchange gas prices.

Answering a clarifying question whether prices could continue to go up in this way, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “In my opinion, it is not excluded.”

Gas futures with the nearest delivery in September started August at $2,100 per thousand cubic meters. However, on August 15, quotes exceeded $2,400 for the first time in five months. Analysts attributed this to preventive work at Norwegian production facilities and on the system through which gas is supplied from Azerbaijan, as well as increased competition for LNG from large importers from Asia.

After Gazprom announced the suspension due to maintenance of the Nord Stream pipeline, prices jumped, exceeding $2,700 per thousand cubic meters, and a week later they crossed the threshold of $3,500 and approached a historic high of $3,892. However, then in a few days they fell by more than $1,000. So far, quotes are about ten times higher than last year’s prices, when gas prices were already record high.