Because of falling consumption: Gas in Europe as cheap as it was before the war began

The European gas price fell further towards the end of the year.

On Friday, the futures contract TTF for Dutch natural gas fell to 71.60 euros per megawatt hour.

At the start of trading, it was still above 80 euros.

European natural gas was last this cheap in February, before the start of the war in Ukraine.

At the beginning of December, the TTF futures contract was briefly quoted at over EUR 150 per megawatt hour.

The record high was reached in the summer at 345 euros per megawatt hour.

At that time, a stop in the supply of natural gas from Russia triggered a rapid rise in prices.

The main reason for the falling gas price is the mild temperatures, which are dampening consumption.

For example, regional temperatures of up to 20 degrees are predicted for the turn of the year in Germany.

In addition, significantly more energy has recently been generated from wind power, which reduces the consumption of gas to generate electricity.

Thanks to the currently favorable weather, natural gas is being stored again in Germany.

According to the latest data from the European storage association GIE, the filling level in all German storage systems was 219.2 terawatt hours on Wednesday, which corresponds to 89.07 percent of the maximum amount.

Despite the recent relaxation, the price of European natural gas is still at a comparatively high level.

In mid-2021, the futures contract TTF was still quoted at around 20 euros.