Gas prices rose more than 35% today, Monday, despite the Russian company Gazprom’s confirmation that it will continue to supply gas to its customers in Europe through Ukraine.
The surge in prices comes in conjunction with the Russian-Ukrainian war entering its fifth day, amid fears of supply disruptions due to the escalation of Western sanctions on Moscow, in conjunction with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that his country’s nuclear deterrent is on high alert.
Russian Gas Supplies
For its part, the Russian state gas company Gazprom said today, Monday, that it is shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with customer requests.
Data from German network operator Gascad showed that another Russian pipeline, the Yamal-Europe route through Belarus and Poland, returned to the reverse situation Sunday morning and continued to transport gas east to Poland from Germany at elevated levels Monday morning.
Gas Prices Today
This coincides with the rise in gas prices in Europe by 35% with the opening of trading to more than 1450 dollars per 1000 cubic meters.
The price of gas futures for April delivery at the TTF Center in the Netherlands – the benchmark for gas prices in Europe – rose to $1,454 per 1,000 cubic metres, or 126 euros per megawatt-hour (based on the current euro-dollar exchange rate).
Usually, Russia, especially the state gas company “Gazprom”, and a number of European countries use units of measurement of gigawatts and terawatts in their European dealings (GWh = 3.2 million cubic feet of gas), and (TWh = 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas).
Western Sanctions
The rise in gas futures prices came after the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other countries imposed sanctions on a number of Russian legal and financial entities.
Energy supply concerns sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine have pushed the price of Brent crude above $105 a barrel, and the price of European gas has risen by 50% to 60% since the beginning of last week.
Markets have been nervous about potential disruptions to energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although exports of Russian goods have so far not been seriously affected, with Russia describing its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation”.
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Source: XglobalMarkets
