At the closing bell on Friday, the price of natural gas for delivery in September was still more than 339 euros per megawatt hour. On Tuesday afternoon, that fell to 252.5 euros. Mind you, that’s still higher than the price on August 19 – less than two weeks ago.
The reason is referred to the European gas stocks, which are being filled faster than originally thought. On Sunday, European gas supplies were about 80 percent full, according to the European platform Agregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI) – a target that Europe had set itself for 1 November. In Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, that percentage is 83.26 percent. For our country it is 88.41 percent.
However, this does not seem to solve all problems. On Wednesday, the important gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 will be closed for three days for maintenance. The fear is that even less gas will flow to Europe after that. Although the Kremlin claims on Tuesday that the reduced deliveries are solely due to technical problems caused by the sanctions. “Russia is and remains ready to fulfill its obligations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.
Moreover, even gas supplies filled to the brim are not enough to survive a harsh winter without additional supplies.