European Gas Prices Soar to Fresh Highs Amid Disruptions
European and British wholesale natural gas prices surged nearly 5% on Monday, reaching fresh 2022 high watermarks as Middle East transit disruptions intensified. The British NBP wholesale gas contract jumped almost 5% to breach the key 200.00 pence mark, trading firmly above the barrier at 201.50p per therm.
The Dutch front-month TTF contract gained roughly 5% to trade at 83.40 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), also surging to fresh multi-year peaks as trading desks scrambled to reprice geopolitical risk across the forward curve.
JERA's Global CEO and Chair, Yukio Kani, warned that Europe's gas reserves remain low and shipping disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz could be prolonged. Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows underground storage facilities are only about 68% full, lagging historical seasonal averages by nearly 17 percentage points.