traders + officials watching for any indications of sabotage27 Sep 2022 12:09
European natural gas surged after four days of losses as damages reported at the shuttered Nord Stream pipeline added to uncertainty over future Russian supply.
Benchmark futures rose as much as 12%, after dropping to a two-month low earlier this week. Two lines of the key Nord Stream link to Germany and one line of the idled Nord Stream 2 reported drops in pressure on Monday, with gas leaks identified by Swedish and Danish authorities in the Baltic Sea.
There have been no gas supplies on this route from Russia over the past month, but the incident adds to nervousness in the market with traders and officials watching for any indications of sabotage. The operating company Nord Stream said that damage to the network is “unprecedented” and it’s impossible to tell when flows could technically resume, but it wouldn’t elaborate on details.
Separately, the Norwegian oil and gas regulator reported on Monday that unidentified drones were seen close to its to offshore installations, urging “increased vigilance by all operators and vessel owners.”
Both this warning from Norway, and news about Nord Stream, raised concerns and “injected some volatility” in the market, EnergyScan, the analysis platform of Engie SA, said in a note ...
“We have bought another six months to get through the winter, albeit at a high cost in subsidies, and will need to use this time to reinforce a message that this is not going away,” said Martin Devenish, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. managing director who now works for S-RM Intelligence & Risk Consulting Ltd. “The real crisis is for next winter, and the impact of it may last for 3-4 years if everything stays the same.” ...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/european-gas-prices-rise-amid-outages-at-idled-russian-pipelines?sref=Em01M8Hr