Natural gas fell amid economic challenges in Europe

On Monday, natural gas prices tumbled in Europe after the imposition of a cap and a slow rise in interest rates.

The natural gas futures for February delivery fell to €75.00 per megawatt hour, following last week’s €65.00 MWh. It hit the lowest period before the Russia-Ukraine war.

Besides, the seasonally high temperatures decreased the demand for heating in the region. Thus, the European Union member countries implemented an energy savings program.

Also, analysts cautioned signs of a recession coming due to high prices triggered by the energy crisis.

Furthermore, the EU nations are building new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals to import more natural gas from other sources. The union projects independence from Russian gas once the LNG stations are finished.

Meanwhile, Hungary has a large number of storage facilities that are being filled by the Serbian pipeline. Its government plans to continue to provide affordable fuel to Hungarians up to average consumption.

Also, the nation’s energy sovereignty stated its high reliance on foreign energy suppliers. Further, the country’s resources are unlimited, and they are also not helpless.

In 2021, the annual natural gas consumption of 10.00 billion cubic meters and 1.50 billion m³ was domestically produced. The nation aims to increase commodity production by 2.00 billion m³ per year.

Turkmen Gas Demand Rose as Natural Gas Prices fell

Besides, President Xi Jinping of China wanted to cooperate with Turkmenistan, the nation’s single largest supplier of pipe natural gas, on energy last Friday. Both countries discussed energy collaboration last September while at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) in Uzbekistan.

In 2022, Beijing imported Turkmen gas valued at $9.30 billion, an increase from $6.79 billion in the previous year

Additionally, Ashgabat fuel was pumped to China’s East coast, passing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In other news, Pakistan plans to sell two gas-fired power plants to Qatar at $1.50 billion to avoid sovereign default. Further, the government formed a new cabinet committee to vend state assets quickly.