Its European prices gas increased as flows from its top supplier Norway declined in the midst of a new scheduled maintenance period.
Future reporting contracts won up to 1.2% today Thursday (5.6.2025), as the Kollsnes Natural Gas Processing Unit in Norway began its seasonal work. The Scandinavian country represented about 1/3 of the imports of the European Union last year.
Traders are focusing on securing supplies to replenish the exhausted storage sites in the area, while attention is also focused on geopolitical developments around US duties and deadlocked efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
However, low demand in China supports liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows to Europe, mitigating some of the concerns about supply this summer. “The LNG offer to Europe’s networks is increasing, helping to cover a significantly larger than last year’s storage,” Patricio Alvarez, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.
He expects that European gas prices will remain around 35 euros per megawatt hour by current year. “Relaxed storage targets, weak domestic demand and sluggish LNG imports in China relax supply pressure, even when short -term production by US LNG and Norwegian gas slows down due to maintenance,” Alvarez said.
The first month’s Dutch contracts, the European gas reference index, added 1.1% to 36.16 euros per megawatt in Amsterdam.