Nord Stream 2 pipeline installation in Lubmin, on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast.
AFP via Getty Images
Prices of natural gas in Europe briefly rose to more than €100 a megawatt-hour Thursday night before retreating, underlining continued shortages, after a top Chinese government official ordered state-owned companies to secure supplies at all costs.
Together with news that pipelines delivering gas from Russia weren’t currently running at full capacity, Beijing’s move increased the pressure on energy prices, which have hit Europe and the rest of the world in the past few months.
The market eased after Russia later said that exports by state-owned Gazprom to its major Asian and European markets would grow by more than 10% over last year, exceeding previous forecast.
Prices of benchmark Dutch natural gas were down more than 1% to €97.20 Friday morning. They have risen fivefold since the beginning of the year.
U.S. natural-gas futures were up 7%, to their highest in seven years Thursday in New York, on prospects that the supply crisis in Europe will keep boosting liquefied natural gas prices worldwide.
Write to Pierre Briançon at [email protected]
