The price of natural gas rose a further 6% at today’s market opening, surpassing €53 per megawatt-hour, in another day of rising energy prices driven by attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to market data gathered by Spanish news agency EFE, at 08:10 (07:10 Lisbon time), the price of natural gas for one-month delivery on the Dutch TTF market — Europe’s benchmark — rose 6.15% to €53.24 per megawatt-hour (MWh).
Natural gas prices continue to rise in line with crude oil, following Iran’s attacks on several tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the global benchmark, also rose back above $100 (€87) per barrel today, despite the release of strategic reserves to prevent a global shortage.
At around 03:00 Lisbon time, Brent was up 9.3% at $100.50 per barrel, while WTI, the US benchmark, reached $94.92 (€82.30), a rise of 8.8%.
Read more about this topic: Oil: Brent rises above $100 despite strategic reserve release
The price surge came despite yesterday’s announcement by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that it would release a portion of its strategic reserves — 400 million barrels to be made available to the market to compensate for supply losses caused by the disruption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the largest volume ever released.
