The price of Danish gas for a contract with delivery tomorrow rose by 47 euros on Monday or by nearly 20 percent, to a record 292 euros per megawatt hour.
British gas for immediate delivery increased by 138 pence or 37 percent, to 503 pence per British thermal unit, while the contract for the next day rose by 119 pence or nearly a third, to 480 pence. Both prices are the highest in the last five months.
Russian Gazprom announced that it would suspend gas deliveries through Nord Stream 1 for three days, until the end of the month, citing maintenance as the reason, thereby increasing pressure on Europe, which is trying to fill gas storage before winter.
– The three-day pause in deliveries will again heighten concerns that Moscow will use gas supplies as a weapon, with pipeline maintenance as an excuse not to restore gas flow, warned OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.
European Storage Filled to 76 Percent, Croatian 70 Percent
On Monday, the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 was stable, while it increased through the Yamal-Europe pipeline. Gas exports from Norway to Britain are expected to decline due to the shutdown of some gas fields, but the flow of gas to continental Europe remains stable.
– Planned maintenance of the Kollsnes facility and the Troll gas field until the end of August, as well as increased demand from the residential and energy sectors in Britain and continental Europe, also contribute to higher prices, stated Christos Anagnostopoulos, an analyst at Aurora Energy Research.
However, British gas storage is now nearly fully filled, while European gas storage is at a filling level of 76.9 percent.
According to the latest data from the Okoli Underground Storage, as of yesterday, the Croatian gas storage was filled to 70 percent. A total of 2.99 billion (kWh) kilowatt hours of gas is now stored in that facility, with 34.06 million kWh injected just yesterday.
