The spot price of gas in Europe exceeded $2500 per thousand cubic meters

According to trading data, the value of the September TTF futures on Tuesday reached $2502 per thousand cubic meters. Gas prices exceeded this local maximum only on March 7 of this year: then the April futures soared during the day to the level of $3898 per thousand cubic meters.

Since the beginning of August, the average price for TTF was $2121, a month earlier gas was traded at an average of $1764 per thousand cubic meters.

Analysts note that the limited possibilities of gas transportation via the Nord Stream contribute to the price increase in Europe. The fact is that the capacity of the gas pipeline has been reduced by five times due to violations of the maintenance schedule of the equipment of the starting station of the marine highway – the Portovaya compressor station. 

Gas pumping units of Rolls-Royce, whose gas turbine business was transferred to Siemens, are installed at this station. And against the background of Canadian sanctions, the transportation of the turbine from the Siemens Energy repair base to Russia did not take place on time. At the same time, as experts note, the time has already come to repair the remaining engines. 

In addition, competition with Asia for free volumes of liquefied natural gas also contributes to the growth of the European spot. Against the background of the rejection of Russian gas, Europe is trying to find salvation in the LNG market by making gas as scarce as possible.