Ukraine Turmoil Unlikely to Cause European Gas Supply Risk

Bloomberg reported yesterday that because Europe’s natural gas stockpiles are currently at their highest level since at least 2009, it is unlikely that turmoil in Ukraine will cause a supply disruption.

As quoted in the market news:

Storage of the fuel in the U.K., the region’s biggest market, is 25 percentage points above average for this time of year, while levels in the Netherlands are 19 points above the mean, data from National Grid Plc and Gas Infrastructure Europe show. Stores would last beyond the winter heating season even if flows were cut, Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG inFrankfurt, said today by phone.

The mildest weather since 2008 reduced demand for the fuel used for heating and to generate electricity and sent prices to their lowest level in two years. Wholesale costs jumped in January 2009 after Russian supplies to Europe via Ukraine halted amid a dispute over prices and transit terms between the two former Soviet nations.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.