Prices for gas in Europe in the first minutes of trading on Monday, losing more than 16%; futures traded below $3,000 per 1000 m3, according to data from London-based exchange ICE.

Trading futures (by the index of Europe’s largest hub TTF) opened at $3,287.3 per 1000 m3 (-6.33%). As of 9.10 Moscow time, prices are already decreasing by 16.3%, amounting to $2,936.6 per 1000 m3. The quotes are given as compared to the previous day’s settlement price – $3,507.3 per 1000 m3, which is the record high for the whole period of gas hubs in operation in Europe since 1996.

Reasons for high gas prices in Europe

In early March, European gas quotations reached new all-time highs for four days in a row due to concerns about the ban on Russian energy imports. The price record of $3,892 per 1000 m3 was reached on March 7.

The latest rise in prices on European gas markets is due to uncertainty about gas supplies. A week ago, Gazprom announced that Nord Stream would be shut down for three days, from August 31 to September 2, due to scheduled maintenance of the only operational gas compressor unit at the Portovaya compressor station. September gas futures contracts (according to TTF) were jumping up almost 8%, above $2,700 per 1,000 m3, following this news.

Earlier, we reported that US diesel inventories were 50% below average.