Exchange gas prices in Europe on the first trading day of the week grow by 7%, exceeding $800 per thousand cubic meters, according to the London ICE exchange.
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February futures on the TTF index (the largest hub in Europe located in the Netherlands) opened trading at $773.6 per thousand cubic meters (+2%). And their cost is already $811.4 (+7%). The dynamics of quotations is based on the settlement price of the previous trading day, Friday – 758.5 dollars per thousand cubic meters.
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At the same time, on January 5, exchange prices for gas in Europe for the first time in almost 16 months – since September 10, 2021 – fell below $700 per thousand cubic meters.
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Experts noted that the decline in gas prices on the European stock exchange is associated with warming and an increase in energy generation from wind. Bloomberg reported that the warmest January in recent years is expected, and data from the European Wind Energy Association Wind Europe shows that energy production from wind farms in the European Union was 31.6% of the total on Sunday – one of the highest levels since 2022. twice the average annual – about 15%.
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Gas prices in Europe rose significantly in the spring of 2021. Then gas quotations for TTF fluctuated in the range of 250-300 dollars per thousand cubic meters, but by the end of the summer they exceeded 600 dollars, and in the fall – already 1,000 dollars. In the winter of 2022, prices crossed the threshold of $2,000 per thousand cubic meters, and in early spring, due to fears of a ban on the import of Russian energy resources, they reached a record high of $3,892 per thousand cubic meters.
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Despite the current decline, gas quotes are more than double the average for a long history of observations. Such persistently high prices have not been seen in the entire history of the operation of gas hubs in Europe – since 1996.
