European gas prices pick up again
European natural gas prices clawed previous losses on October 11, with the Dutch November contract priced at €161.5/($157)/MWh as of 13:50 GMT, up 4.8% from the past session.
Prices have generally seen steady decline since spiking in late September in the wake of major leaks occurring at the Nord Stream pipelines, amid high LNG supply.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
While a majority of EU member states have backed imposing a price cap on all gas imports into the bloc, the proposal faces opposition from Germany and other countries, amid concerns it could exacerbate the supply crunch. Meanwhile, the European Commission continues pushing member states to cut consumption. Demand was down 15% year/year last month, in line with Brussels' target for this winter.
With Nord Stream out of the picture this winter, and Yamal-Europe out of the action for months now because of sanctions imposed by Moscow, Russian gas now only flows to Europe via Ukraine and the TurkStream pipeline. Several weeks ago Gazprom threatened to halt payments to Ukraine in a dispute over gas transit payments, jeopardising that route as well. Meanwhile, the Russian operator of TurkStream has warned it is having to suspend some maintenance and repair work, putting supplies through that pipeline at risk as well, according to RFE/RL.
Russian supplies to Europe were already at an all-time low of 2.3bn m3 in September, down a third from the previously low seen in the previous month.