On November 5, natural gas futures leapt to the crazy $900 per 1,000 m3 in European markets. Dutch TTF futures contracts for December deliveries stood at $893.6 (€770.3) on the Netherlands’ commodity exchange, the most liquid energy marketplace in the EU. This quote is 1.5% up from the contracts for the previous month.
Natural gas prices skyrocketed in Europe in the late summer and peaked in September. Back in early August, Dutch TTF futures were trading at $515 per 1,000 m3. However, the price doubled at the end of September. Experts pinpointed a variety of reasons behind soaring gas prices in the EU such as low levels of European gas inventories, dwindling gas shipments by LNG exporters, and high demand in Asia.
At the beginning of October, gas prices zoomed up to an all-time high of $1,937 per 1,000 m3. A moderate downward correction followed later on. On November 1, gas futures declined to $750 per 1,000 m3 for the first time in one and half months. Experts say that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin managed to moderate the stunning rally of gas prices. The Russian leader ordered Gazprom to replenish European storage facilities in the near future. Meanwhile, LNG futures are trading mixed.
However, on November 3, contracts on gas bound for European consumers shot up 17.5%, surpassing $950 per 1,000 m3. Such a sharp increase was fueled by Gazprom’s assertive policy. The state-owned company revised its agenda for Q1 2022. Moscow decided not to book extra transit capacity to ship more gas via Ukraine and through the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Poland.
