2023-08-10 07:51:13
The price of European natural gas rose at the start of trading on Thursday, following the jump in prices from the previous day. Market observers explained the boost with supply concerns. In the morning, the trend-setting futures contract TTF for delivery in one month was traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange at EUR 42.45 per megawatt hour (MWh). That’s three percent more than the day before.
Since the beginning of the week, European natural gas has become around 40 percent more expensive. The current price jump started in the middle of the week and at times pushed the price up to EUR 43.49 on Wednesday and thus to the highest level since April.
The reason for the jump in prices is, among other things, strikes by workers in some liquid gas plants in Australia. According to Dekabank experts, up to ten percent of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) production might be affected. However, Dekabank also referred to reports that Asian buyers are currently stocking up on the market for the coming winter and are outbidding European buyers.
Despite the currently strong increase, the European gas price has basically been on a downward trend since the end of last year. However, in the past few months there have been several significant price jumps, although the increased price level was mostly short-lived.
The price of European natural gas is now well below the level it was just before the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. A record price of more than 300 euros per MWh was paid last summer. However, before 2021, natural gas had consistently cost less than 20 euros per MWh.
Meanwhile, the gas storage facilities in Europe continue to be filled. According to the latest data from the European storage association GIE, the filling level of the Austrian storage was 88.86 percent on August 8th, the German storage was 89.91 percent full. Across Europe, gas storage tanks were 88.02 percent full. The gas reserves have been replenished almost continuously for months and are well above the comparative value of the previous year. Reasons for the higher level include imports of liquid gas.
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