The cost of natural gas on the spot market of Europe jumped close to historical maxima – the last time this level was observed in 2008. This was affected by a sharp leap of demand, explained both weather factors and restoration of the economy after the crisis. This is reported by Izvestia.
Vygon Consulting Director Maria Belova explained that the reason for the rise in prices is primarily a hot summer, which imposed on the situation with slow reserves in PCHs, which were as low as possible in the winter. “In addition, there is a decrease in the supply of LNG to Europe, as its suppliers, including those that offered their” molecules of freedom “, choose asian markets, where the price of gas is more attractive than in Europe,” she explained .
Director of the Institute of Energy and Finance Marcel Salikhov noted that the European gas market is liberalized. He noted that the main reasons are related to the factors of supply and demand. According to gas transmission operators, in May of the current year, demand was 17 percent higher than the 2020 indicators. In the first five months of 2021 – by 17.6 percent more demand than in the same period in the 2020th.
Another factor, due to which gas prices will remain high for some time, these are problems with marine transportation. LNG is transported by tankers, and it did not affect the lack of containers, due to which world trade was not stopped at the beginning of 2021.
In June, gas prices in Europe took off due to heat on space up to $ 363 per thousand cubic meters. This is the maximum indicator since the beginning of March 2018. The average price of the contract “For a day ahead” on TTF from the beginning of 2021 amounted to 264 dollars per thousand cubic meters. The Budget “Gazprom” for the current year laid the average price of gas exports to far abroad at $ 170 per thousand cubes.