Threat of strikes in Australia continues to unsettle Europe's gas market as prices jumped again yesterday

After the European gas market began to calm again in recent weeks, gas prices started rising sharply last week. The reason was a new supply-side risk on the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, amid strike threats at Australian LNG terminals. Talks between employers and unions are still ongoing, but every new development can have a major impact on the market. Yesterday, gas prices jumped again amid a less-than-positive turn in the negotiations.

Although natural gas prices on European markets have fallen dramatically since the beginning of this year, local markets have again been experiencing greater price volatility over the past two months. The first significant jump came in mid-June, when the main driver of the increase was an extension of outages in Norway's gas infrastructure, limiting supplies for several weeks longer than originally planned.

As gas production in Norway recovered, prices for short-term contracts began falling below 30 EUR/MWh again, but the decline did not last long. A sharp drop in natural gas supplies from Russia has left Europe more exposed than ever before to the global LNG market, where any supply disruption or increase in demand in other regions can have a significant impact on price stability in the European gas market.