European natural gas prices fell for a third consecutive day as stockpiles held in storage facilities gradually increased above the average seasonal supply level. On Tuesday, Europe’s gas storage facilities were at 72% capacity, exceeding the average of 70.1% for the previous five years. This led to the European benchmark, Dutch front-month gas, declining by 2.5% on Tuesday to 188.30 euros per megawatt-hour.
Following the decline in Russian natural gas exports, European nations have been rushing to replenish their inventories ahead of the coming winter. In late July, Russia decided to cut natural gas imports via the Nord Stream pipeline from 40% of the link’s capacity to just 20%. Since then, Russian supplies via the pipeline have remained steadily at this level.
According to Russia’s state-owned Gazprom PJSC, the company has been dealing with turbine maintenance issues, blaming repair delays mainly on the consequences of the sanctions that have been placed on the country since its invasion of Ukraine.
European orders of Norwegian gas supplies slid by 3.6% over four days, with numerous UK and European-based supply facilities set to undergo seasonal works this week in addition to holding uncommonly high inventories.