European gas prices still on alert

The market is better prepared but still jittery, while the industry remains wary of the EU price cap

Wholesale gas prices over the last two years show that “the old economic adage of something being worth what the purchaser is willing to pay for it really rings true”, said Neil Hunter, senior editor for EMEA natural gas at information provider S&P Global Commodity Insights, at Gulf Energy Information’s European Gas Strategy event in November. The loss of Russian pipeline supply put the market in “uncharted territory” with the risk of an energy crisis, he continued. “At around the $38/m Btu level [roughly equivalent to €120/MWh currently], we saw the amount of LNG to Europe level off, but prices still climbed, although that did not incentivise additional supply coming to Europe,” said Hu