According to the London ICE exchange, gas prices in Europe on Thursday fell below $450 per thousand cubic meters for the first time since July 27, 2021. The next April futures on the TTF index (the largest hub in Europe) opened trading at $447.3 dollars (-3.2%) per thousand cubic meters, falling during the day to $442. A steady decline in the cost of gas has been observed since the end of last year. The current price values are already almost four times lower than the levels observed in early December 2022. Then gas quotes on some days exceeded $1,700 per thousand cubic meters. And in March 2022, the cost of gas completely broke the record – at almost $ 3,900. Analysts note that gas is getting cheaper on the European stock exchange due to sufficient reserves in underground gas storage facilities in the European Union, warm and windy weather, as well as against the background of savings measures that have significantly reduced gas consumption. However, despite the local decline, prices are still more than twice the average over the long-term history of observations. Experts emphasize that such persistently high prices have not been in the entire history of the operation of gas hubs in Europe – since 1996.
