Gas Price Shoots Up Again Due to Planned Closure of Nord Stream

The European gas price rose sharply again on Monday at the start of trading. The reason was Gazprom’s report on Friday that the Nord Stream gas pipeline will be closed for three days at the end of this month for maintenance.

Gas became more than a tenth more expensive.

That message then came after the close of trading. At the opening of the leading Amsterdam gas exchange, the price shot up to more than 13 percent in the first minutes on Monday and then fell slightly again. A megawatt hour of gas now costs 270 euros, which is about twelve times as much as expected at this time of year.

Traders fear that Russia is using the new closure of Nord Stream to throttle gas supplies to Germany further. In recent months, Gazprom has already reduced gas flow through the critical pipeline under the Baltic Sea to one-fifth of its maximum capacity.

German economy minister Robert Habeck also warned that Germany should take even less gas from Russia into account. According to him, his country can survive the winter without taking drastic measures, but gas must be saved to be prepared for this. Germany is also considering whether some nuclear power plants can remain open longer than initially planned.