Gas Prices Fall After Possible Strike Cancellation In Australia

The threat of a strike by the Australian group Woodside Energy has caused a lot of volatility in gas prices in recent hours.

This morning, methane futures fell 18% to the level below 30 euros per megawatt-hour, after falling yesterday. This is due to news from Australia about a union agreement that will prevent a strike by of Woodside Energy, the country’s largest liquefied natural gas plant.

The decline in European demand for Russian gas, partially compensated by purchases of liquefied natural gas delivered by gas carriers and not connected to gas pipelines, has somewhat changed the market for precious fuel, which is now more sensitive to possible shocks, even if they occur on the other side of the world, as in this case. The threat of a strike would result in a 10% reduction in gas availability in the short term.

In the meantime, gas pumping into underground storage facilities in Europe has averaged over 90%, which is a critical threshold to face the winter with some peace of mind. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the fill rate in Europe is 91.32% (1037.71 TWh of gas stored). Among the European countries, Germany is in first place with UGS facilities filled to 93.21% (235.24 TWh), Italy is second with 91.5% (178.72 TWh), the 90% level was also surpassed by Holland, and France remains at the same level of 86.79% (118.33 TWh).