European natural gas prices jumped over 7 percent intraday Monday, building on last week’s sharp rally as Russia’s supply cuts drove concerns about critical shortages and rationing.
The European benchmark for natural gas, the Dutch TTF front-month gas futures contracts, were up 7.442 percent at 126.5 euros per megawatt-hour as of 8:44 a.m. on June 20 in Amsterdam, ICE data showed.
The uptick comes on the heels of a 40-plus percent rally in prices last week as Russia reduced natural gas supplies to top buyers in Europe, blaming a technical problem related to Western sanctions.
Leaders in Germany and Italy called Russia’s reductions a political move, and Moscow’s move exacerbated the energy tensions in Europe, following its previous cutoff of natural gas to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark….