Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to InfoTEK on the reasons and prospects for the current increase in spot gas prices in Europe.
Alexey Belogoryev attributed the rise in gas prices in Europe to high sampling rates and cold weather, as well as the pessimism of players in the European gas market, who had already begun to doubt the traditional spring-summer price cuts.
According to him, the price increase is based on general negative trends: increased demand (the temperature background is fluctuating, but this winter remains colder than the previous two), relatively low gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities and extremely limited gas supply: compared to the level of 2023-2024, supplies not only of pipeline gas from Russia, but also of Norwegian gas and LNG decreased.
Belogoryev added that a common long-term pattern is a decrease in average monthly spot gas prices in February relative to January, while prices sometimes briefly return to growth in March.
"Everything depends on the weather conditions that determine demand, and on the availability of supply, which, in turn, depends (in the absence of pipeline supplies from Russia) mainly on the demand for LNG in Asia," he said.
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