Natural gas prices in Europe have decreased by 18%, despite expectations of a supply crunch following the shutdown of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
In late August, natural gas futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands went up as deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline decreased. The price of September gas futures surpassed $3,150 per 1,000 m3. Amid tensions between Russia and the EU, Gazprom declared that it could not receive the repaired equipment for the pipeline due to sanctions against Russia. Later, the company announced that Nord Stream would be switched off on August 31-September 2, citing the need to carry out repairs.
However, despite limited supply, natural gas prices began to decline. In the second half of August, European gas storages were filled to a record high 77.5% capacity, two months ahead of schedule. If EU countries continue to fill up storages at this rate, the storage rate would reach 80% by the end of August and 90% by September 20, ahead of the start of the heating season in mid-October.
