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Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices soared on Friday by the most in a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the chances of a new deal for Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine are low.
Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, jumped early on Friday in Amsterdam by as much as 5%, before giving up some of the gains by midday. As of 12:24 p.m. Amsterdam time, prices were still rising, by 3.3% on the day, at $49.27 (47.23 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh).
On Thursday, Putin said that there isn’t time for a new gas transit deal to be reached between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian president was quick to add that the lack of a deal was entirely Ukraine’s fault.
Ukraine has so far refused to extend the gas transit deal currently in place that would see gas transit continue uninterrupted to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia—a refusal that Putin says only hurts Europe.
The current gas transit deal began nearly five years ago and expires at the end of 2024, and if the deal does in fact expire without a new deal in place, it will indeed bring hardship to several European countries. According to Putin, the few days left in the year are not long enough to reach a new deal.
The volume of natural gas that flows from Russia through Ukraine and onto Europe via the current pipeline deal is about 15 billion cubic meters or less than 10% of the total volume Russia shipped to Europe pre-Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, European Union leaders met in Brussels to discuss the issue of alternatives to Russian gas with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine has emphatically stated that it would not discuss the idea of continued Russian gas transit with Russia.
Some consultations are being held – without Russia – Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Bloomberg on Friday.
