European natural gas prices have surged, continuing from last week, due to disruptions in Norwegian supplies to the UK and mainland Europe.
Dutch benchmark futures saw an uptick of 5.3% in early trades after Norwegian production, which is Europe’s leading source, hit its lowest since at least 2015 over the past weekend.
The current production is below half of Norway’s full potential.
Even though the demand in Europe has been subdued and storage sites are close to capacity, the decrease in supplies is causing anxiety in a market already unsettled by potential strikes in Australia.
Since Saturday, three Norwegian fields have paused their supplies for unannounced maintenance tasks.
This comes at a time when the market is grappling with the closure of the massive Troll field and other infrastructures.
Dutch front-month futures, the gas standard for Europe, traded at an increase of 3%, costing over €36 per megawatt-hour. The UK’s counterpart saw a 4.5% hike.
