The premium for "Suju" is decreasing: European storages are filled by 90%

Gas prices in Europe are declining. The Ukrainian transit of Russian gas continues, while the storage facilities of the EU countries have been filled by 90%. These figures are lower than last year's, but experts predict this year the lowest demand for gas in 30 years: the temperature in the region is comfortable, and the economy is not recovering.

"We have achieved the goal of filling the storages by 90% by the coming winter," European Commissioner Kadri Simson wrote on Twitter. She stressed that this indicates the region's readiness for the heating season due to intensive work over the past few years.

"The European Commission will continue to monitor the situation so that the storages are sufficiently full," Kadri Simson wrote.

According to ENTSOG, the storage facilities of the EU countries were filled with gas by 90% on August 19. They contained 97.6 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the indicator is not a breakthrough. A year ago at the UGS The EU already had 102.3 billion cubic meters. And this season traders have pumped less, as after the winter there were higher reserves — 33.9 billion cubic meters instead of 42.5 billion cubic meters.

Nevertheless, the plan was completed more than two months earlier. And this was another reason for gas quotations on European stock exchanges to decline. Since July, they have increased by more than 25% - up to $ 460 per thousand cubic meters. In the beginning, the reason was the redirection of LNG cargoes to Asia, where they pay more for gas. Next, on August 6, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an attack on The Kursk region and under their control came the Russian gas measuring station "Sudzha", through which the entire transit of Gazprom through Ukraine goes.

However, the price of gas has been decreasing in recent days. Deliveries for a month in advance from the TTF hub fell to $ 433. The difference from the situation before the seizure of "Suji" was reduced to $ 13.

Back in the spring at the UGS The EU has record high gas reserves after a comfortable winter. And now the cost of gas can be influenced by forecasts that fuel consumption in the EU in 2024 may be the lowest in the last 30 years. Such data is published by the American Center for Global Energy Policy: the weather is comfortable, and industrial demand is not recovering.

In addition, experts noted to EADaily that speculative sentiment reigns in the market and a significant share of price jumps is a game, including investment funds from the USA. They account for 24% of trades on the European TTF hub.