Image: APA/Barbara Gindl
At the beginning of the week, the price for the trend-setting futures contract TTF for delivery in a month fell to 42.50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). European natural gas was last cheaper in August 2021.
Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, natural gas prices had risen drastically in the past year. At the peak, prices of more than 300 euros were paid, after natural gas had cost around 20 euros per MWh for a long time. A high dependency on Russian gas had led to an energy crisis.
Since December, however, the price of natural gas has been in a continuous downward trend. During this time, the listing fell by 70 percent. The natural gas storage facilities, which are comparatively well filled towards the end of the winter months, are one of the main reasons for this.
According to the latest data from the European storage association GIE, the fill level in all Austrian storage systems was 68.36 percent on March 4th. Although the gas reserves have fallen continuously since January, they are still well above the comparative value of the previous year. Reasons for the higher filling level in a year-on-year comparison include lower demand due to prices and the weather. In addition, there are savings, especially in industry, which used less for cost reasons.
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