This is a first in over a year. Just before the end of the year, the price of European gas reached the symbolic mark of 50 euros per megawatt hour on Tuesday, driven by the expiration of a transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia, a cold winter and increased dependence on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is significantly more expensive.
Around 4 p.m. Paris time, the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark for natural gas, gained nearly 3.5% to 49.725 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), after reaching the 50 euro mark, its highest level since October 2023.
No deliveries of Russian gas to Europe
The price of natural gas was already at its highest in November. The Dutch TTF had reached 48,475 euros. Its surge is due to the arrival of cold winter temperatures, but above all to geopolitics. “There is also a renewed tension between Russia and the West on a military level”commented Eli Rubin of EBW Analytics Group.
This Wednesday, January 1, no delivery of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine is planned, according to data published Tuesday by the Ukrainian operator GTSOU, noting the end of a 2019 Russian-Ukrian contract and supplies from several Eastern European countries.
Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putin in February 2022, the Russian state giant Gazprom still supplied gas to Europe, notably Slovakia, Moldova and Hungary, via a network of gas pipelines on the Ukrainian soil. According to figures published by GTSOU on its site, the volumes planned for Wednesday are zero m3.
