A new round of cold weather in Europe and a powerful selection from storage facilities led to a jump in prices in Europe. The highest price increases are in Germany and Austria, which were Gazprom’s largest customers in Europe.
“Exchange prices for gas in Germany and Austria exceeded $ 500 per thousand cubic meters,” Gazprom reports.
The company cites bidding data that on January 21, the price of natural gas with delivery “a day ahead” in Germany (THE virtual trading hub “THE”) reached $ 525.9, in Austria (the virtual trading hub “VTP”) — $ 537,2/
“Thus, in one day (relative to January 20), prices immediately increased by 11.9% and 11.5%, respectively,” Gazprom said.
The company noted that the rapid growth of gas exchange prices is taking place against the background of actively declining gas reserves in underground storage facilities, the expected cold snap in Europe, a sharp jump in gas prices in the USA — the largest LNG supplier to the European market, as well as significant fluctuations in speculative exchange positions of investment funds.
As EADaily reported, on January 22, meteorologists no longer expect that the Arctic air masses coming to Europe, called the “Beast from the East,” will bring abnormal frosts. However, stock speculators are now betting on an increase in gas prices and in two weeks the cost of fuel has jumped by almost 46%. Gas extraction from storage facilities remains high and threatens to empty the UGS facilities of EU countries by the end of the season.