Gas prices in Europe surpass latest psychological threshold of $2,000/1,000 cubic meters

Spot prices for gas in Europe have easily surpassed the latest psychological threshold of $2,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Prices for the nearest January Dutch TTF Gas Futures on the ICE Futures have reached EUR 174.61 per MWh, or $2,039 per 1,000 cubic meters.

This is the all-time high in the entire history of trading, with the previous all-time high having been set at the beginning of October this year.

The day-ahead contract on the Dutch TTF Gas Futures traded at an average of $945 per 1,000 cubic meters in November, and has traded at an average of $1,316 per 1,000 cubic meters in December. The average contract has reached $537 since the beginning of the year.

Gazprom did not book transit via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline for the gas day on Tuesday. Data from the Gascade gas transmission operator regarding the new gas day confirmed that the pipeline stopped pumping and switched to reverse mode from west to east.

The region's updated weather outlook forecasts several days of severe frost for this week and next week in Europe. The average temperature in December 2021 in Europe has been 2 degrees lower than last year's average. Nevertheless, the current temperatures correspond to the average for the past 10 years.

Electricity generation from renewable sources has dropped significantly in Europe. On Monday, wind power contributed only 9.4% to Europe's electricity generation, from an average of 13.7% for the week of December 13-19, with the highest figure of 20% recorded on Sunday, according to data from the WindEurope association.

The current level of gas inventories in underground storage facilities in Europe has reached 59.57% of the maximum capacity, according to data as of Monday morning, which is 16.3 percentage points below the average for the past five years, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua