European gas prices fell to pre-war levels

European gas prices fell to levels last seen before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, after warm weather on the continent eased fears of gas shortages. The Guardian writes about it, reports epravda.com.ua.

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The European gas futures contract for a month ahead fell to 76,78 euros per megawatt-hour on Wednesday, the lowest level in 10 months, before rising to 83,70 euros, according to data collection company Refinitiv.

On Tuesday, 83,2% of EU gas storage facilities were filled, data from the industry organization Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In May, the EU set a goal to fill 80% of its gas storages by early November to prepare for winter. In August, this goal was achieved, and by the middle of November it reached its maximum — more than 95%.

On Thursday, gas prices rebounded even more from the 10-month low and reached 85,50 euros per megawatt-hour.

Europe has a few more months of the heating season ahead, and some industry leaders believe that energy shortages could become a problem next winter as well. However, traders also had to weigh the consequences of the recession expected in several major European countries, which may reduce demand for energy.

Gas prices in Great Britain also fell from the highs reached earlier this year. On Wednesday, the price of gas for the day ahead closed at 155 pence per therm, compared with 200 pence per therm in early 2022 and more than 500 pence per therm in August.

As a reminder, a floating LNG terminal has arrived in Finland, designed to reduce dependence on Russia.

Together with Finland, the terminal is leased by Estonia, but its government previously refused to acquire a stake in the company that operates the terminal and decided to use the 30 million euros provided for it to purchase additional gas reserves.

Russia stopped supplying pipeline gas to Finland back in May due to the latter's refusal to pay for gas in rubles, but the supply of liquefied natural gas is still continuing.

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