The price of gas in Europe in November rose by 21% to around USD 521 per 1,000 cubic meters. m, according to data from the London Futures Exchange ICE. The main factors behind this increase were record withdrawals from European storage facilities amid a cold snap, announcements of the suspension of Russian gas flows by Austria's OMV and risks to payment of supplies from the Russian Federation due to US sanctions against Gazprombank.
If on October 31, gas futures traded around USD 432 per 1,000 cubic meters, then on November 30, trading closed at USD 521 - 21% more than the end of last month.
The increase in gas prices is due to several factors. This was largely due to record November gas withdrawal rates from European underground storage (SGS) amid cold weather. Currently, European GHGs are less than 87% full and contain about 96 billion cubic meters. m of gas. Since the beginning of the heating season at the end of October, the EU countries have already taken almost 11 billion cubic meters from the storages. m of gas. At the same time, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts expects the coldest winter in the region in recent years.
In addition, statements about the suspension of Russian gas flows by the Austrian OMV, despite the fact that the volume of supplies in the direction of Austria remains the same, added to the fears of the market. OMV announced that it had received from Gazprom Export a notice of termination of gas supplies under the Austrian contract as of November 16. This is due to the fact that OMV decided to refund the compensation awarded to it by arbitration in a dispute with Gazprom Export. EUR 230 million for payments under the gas supply contract for Austria via Ukraine. The defect in the contract with Germany, which led to the litigation, arose after the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. and in the conditions of inaccessibility of the Yamal - Europe gas pipeline due to sanctions.
Also in late November, the US imposed sanctions on Gazprombank, which handles foreign payments for Russian gas and oil. After that, Turkey said that the sanctions had a negative impact on the republic, and the Hungarian government saw no problems with paying for gas due to sanctions against Gazprombank. However, the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Peter Szijártó, discussed this issue with the First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Pavel Sorokin. Experts interviewed by TASS said that US sanctions could force foreign buyers of Russian oil and gas to look for alternative payment methods due to the risk of secondary sanctions and incur high costs, and in the case of Europe, they would lead to an increase in prices for hydrocarbons from Russia.< /p>
Earlier, according to Eurostat data and its own calculations, it reported that in September the European Union bought Russian pipeline gas for a maximum from February 2023. - 840 million LNG imports from Russia in value terms became the largest since April 2024.
Head of Gazprom Alexey Miller drew attention to the emergence of speculative capital in the European gas market, which leads to increased price volatility in the region. The average annual price of gas in Europe, which will be formed by the end of 2024, is twice the average price for the period 2016-2020, he noted.