The spot price of gas in Europe surged 4% in a day. The price of gas with delivery on Friday at the main hub of Europe Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) reached $505 per thousand cubic meters, the Moscow-based Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
Gas prices in Europe are reportedly responding to a rally in liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices in Asia. In the Platts JKM index, gas September futures contracts hit $544 on Thursday, up from $539 a day earlier.
The most expensive contract for the coming winter, futures with delivery in February 2022, costs $613. The JKM Index reflects the spot market value of cargoes delivered into Japan, South Korea and China.
With the rising prices in Asia, Europe gets less and less LNG supplies. The flow of regasified LNG from European terminals to the gas transmission system in July 2021 decreases by 23% compared to July 2020 and by 30% compared to July of the pre-crisis 2019.
The current gas prices are the highest in three and a half years - since March 2018. Back then, the Beast from the East cold spell raged in Europe, and the gas price soared to $1,000 per thousand cubic meters.