European gas prices rose sharply again

At the beginning of the new week, European gas prices rose sharply again. The reason is signals that Russia will not increase supplies, as promised by President Vladimir Putin. At least not from Monday. The European reference futures contract for the gas exchange strengthened by as much as 9.7 percent on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and its price reached 81.23 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).It later lost part of his profits and traded a plus 7.1 percent after 79.25 euros per MWh. The equivalent British gas contract has risen in price by eight percent. Orders for gas transmission capacity through the Yamal pipeline have shown that deliveries will remain below normal on Monday. In addition, Yamal, who runs from Russia via Poland to Germany, was still working in reverse mode on Monday morning, meaning that the gas was flowing from west to east. Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised that Russia will start sending more gas to Europe from Monday, when he ordered Gazprom to fill European storage tanks after it has finished filling storage tanks in Russia. Gazprom instead said it would not sell any gas through its spot platform this week. Also, no extra transmission capacity was reserved at Monday auctions for gas supplies to Europe this week. "It's disappointing as the gas market needs higher supplies," said Niek van Kouteren, a trader at the Dutch energy company PZEM. "If Russia does not increase supplies, prices are likely to continue to rise." European gas prices have more than tripled this year. The main reason is weak supplies from Russia. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it can supply more gas after the launch of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, according to some European politicians. At the beginning of the current heating season, Europe's gas reserves are the lowest in more than ten years. Traders are waiting for more supplies from Russia and there are growing fears that there will not be enough gas in the cold winter. Deliveries of Russian gas to Germany via the Yamal gas pipeline stopped again on Saturday morning, according to data from the German gas network operator Gascade. Instead, gas is now flowing from Germany to Poland. Yamal started working in reverse mode the previous Saturday, October 30, which lasted until Thursday, when supplies to Germany resumed, although significantly below the capacity of the pipeline.