OREANDA-NEWS. Another record was set by the price of natural gas on the European market. Quotes for October gas futures on the index of the most liquid European hub, the Dutch TTF, exceeded $ 740 per thousand cubic meters.

At the beginning of the trading session on Monday, September 13, the cost of this futures was $ 713.1 per thousand cubic meters, RIA Novosti reports. According to Sergei Pikin, director of the Energy Development Fund, the price of gas in Europe may soon surpass the psychological mark of $ 800 per thousand cubic meters.

According to the expert, first of all, the price is influenced by the approach of winter against the background of the fact that gas reserves in storage facilities remain at their minimum values. Also, prices in Asia remain at a high level, and liquefied gas goes there, and not to Europe. This leads to a reduction in the volume of fuel supply on the European continent.

The main factor behind the rise in prices is the low level of gas reserves in European storage facilities with limited gas flow through pipelines and in liquefied form.

Currently, the level of gas in underground storage facilities in Europe has slightly exceeded 70%, despite the fact that a little more than a month remains from the injection of gas to withdrawal from the storage facilities. According to the data, on the morning of September 12, the level of gas in underground storage facilities in Europe was 70.45%, which is by 15.7 percentage points, below the average of the last five years.

From the end of August to the German underground storage facilities "Rehden" and "Katarina". Gas pumping by Gazprom was stopped. The company is currently continuing limited injection into the Austrian storage Haidach, Germany's Jemgum and the Dutch Bergermeer.

The inflow of liquefied natural gas to European terminals in September increased compared to August by about 20%.