The benchmark Dutch gas price has fallen on EU's Ukraine gas transport push
Dutch wholesale gas fell below 40 euro ($43.31), for the first time in this year, after news broke that European leaders were set to ask EU authorities and Kyiv intensify their talks to resolve an end to Russian gas transiting through Ukraine.
By 1606 GMT, the benchmark front-month contract for the Dutch TTF hub had fallen by 2.15 euros to 38.85 euros/MWh, or $12.26/mmBtu.
LSEG data show that the contract reached 38.48 Euros in early trade, its lowest since November 2024.
The contract for May fell by 3.24 euros, to 38.62 Euro/MWh.
The British day-ahead contract fell 4 pence to 95 pence/therm. Meanwhile, the British April contract dropped 5.45 pence to 94.04 pence/therm.
On Thursday, the European Union leaders held an extraordinary summit in order to discuss Ukraine and European defense.
In the draft conclusions, the parties were urged to "intensify their efforts to find workable solutions for the gas transit problem", including by resuming the talks.
The traders said that this is the reason why the price of gas has fallen.
The Russian gas continued to flow into Europe through Ukraine, despite the conflict, until 2024. At that time a transit agreement expired.
The energy markets have been volatile in recent weeks as well, due to the threat of tariffs for products exported to the U.S. This has impacted economic growth expectations and gas demand.
In earlier trade, oil prices fell to their lowest level since December 2021. They remained below $70 per barrel on Thursday.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon market fell by 1.51 euros to 67.28 euro per metric ton. ($1 = 0.9236 euro) (Reporting and editing by Janane Vekatraman, Susan Fenton and Marwa Razhad)
(source: Reuters)
