Gas falling in price in Europe amid statements on Nord Stream 2 launch

Gas in Europe is falling in price on the futures market and has already dropped below $500 per 1,000 cubic meters after Russia’s Gazprom announced the possible volume of gas supplies via Nord Stream 2 in 2021, according to trading data, Report informs referring to Gazprom.

According to information from the London stock exchange ICE, after the company’s statement, the price of September futures on the Dutch TTF index, the most liquid European hub, fell by 5 percent, to about $510 per 1,000 cubic meters. As of 13:26 (GMT+4), the value of the index slightly adjusted - to about $516 per 1,000 cubic meters.

However, later the prices went down again, compared with the value before Gazprom;s announcement. The drop amounted to 9 percent - to $483 per 1,000 cubic meters. As of 14:03 (GMT+4), the index was trading at the value of $493.

On August 18, there was also a sharp jump in European gas prices. However, the sharp drop of 10 percent was based on false information about the alleged beginning of receiving gas from the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the construction of which hasn’t been completed.

On average, since the beginning of the year, a day-ahead contract on TTF has already cost $315 per 1,000 cubic meters.

At the beginning of the week, Gazprom bought out only a small part of the proposed additional solid pumping capacities through Ukraine for September at the auction of the Operator of the Gas Transmission System of Ukraine. However, in previous months it bought out the entire volume for pumping 15 million cubic meters per day.

After that, the value of the futures contract closest to the spot quotes - the September futures on the TTF gas hub index on ICE Futures - jumped to $585 per 1,000 cubic meters after the end of the auction.

Gazprom has a long-term reservation of 40 billion cubic meters of Ukrainian capacity for 2021, which is 109 million cubic meters per day.