Natural gas prices in Europe on the first working day of the week and the year traded below $800 per thousand cubic meters, being at February levels, according to data from London-based exchange ICE.

February Natural Gas Futures on the TTF index (Europe’s largest hub, located in the Netherlands) opened trading at $777.3 per thousand cubic meters (-8%). Their price is $790.5 (-6.4%). The dynamics of quotes is given from the calculated price of the previous trading day — Friday — $844.3 per thousand cubic meters.

Quotes for gas prices in Europe today fell below $800 per thousand cubic meters on December 30, the first time in 10 months.

On December 19, the EU countries agreed on a limit on exchange prices for gas. It will be €180 per MWh (almost $2,000 per thousand cubic meters at the current exchange rate) and will go into effect on February 15. The measure is aimed at protecting European households and businesses from gas price hikes. The high cost of energy resources in Europe, as it was noted by Western mass media, caused the highest inflation in the last decades.

Gas prices in Europe rose noticeably last year. While in spring the gas quotations by TTF varied in the range of 250-300 dollars per thousand cubic meters, by the end of summer they were over 600 dollars, and in autumn they were already over 1000 dollars. This winter the prices crossed the threshold of $2,000, and in early spring the prices hit the record high of $3,892 per 1,000 cubic meters due to the concerns about the ban on imports of Russian energy resources.

Despite the current decline, gas quotations are several times higher than the long-term average. Such steadily high prices have not been seen since 1996, the history of European gas hubs.

Earlier, we reported that analysts said that the price of oil will not rise above $110 per barrel in 2023.