European natural gas continues to fall, reaching its lowest value in two years this Thursday, with comfortable storage levels in Europe and a rise in temperatures curbing demand.
At 3:20 PM (Lisbon time), the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the reference in Europe, stood at EUR 30.25 per megawatt hour (MWh), just after falling to EUR 29.85, the lowest price since June 2021 .
‘Global level of natural gas consumption continues to fall’ with rising temperatures in Europe, Bjarne Schildrop, an analyst at Seb, explains in a note.
“Global warming reduces demand for heating gas”he added, as near-term expected temperatures are above average for this time of year, reducing demand.
Storage levels in Europe are also well above average, according to analysts from Energi Danmark quoted by AFP.
“Inventories are approaching record levels for this period of the year”Schilldrop also indicated, recalling that demand remains weak.
“The European energy crisis was effectively stopped thanks to an exceptional adaptation of the European Union (EU) after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia”orphan.
Europe has greatly reduced its dependence on Russian gas. According to estimates by DNB analysts, before the war in Ukraine, Russia provided about 40% of Europe’s gas imports and less than 10% today.
The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has received proposals from 25 companies for the supply of more than 13.4 billion cubic meters of gas, as part of the first joint tender at European Union (EU) level.
After this first tender, a second pooling of demand and tenders will follow in June, followed by three more rounds until the end of the year.
Since the beginning of the year, European natural gas has fallen by more than 60%, far from the historic record of €345 per MWh in March 2022, but still at a high level compared to previous years. In 2020, the gas price was 15 euros per MWh.
Source: DN
