On the Amsterdam gas exchange, the price of a megawatt-hour fell by more than 8 percent this morning, falling below thirty euros. Last week, the price increased by about 38%. This was the sharpest weekly increase since August of last year. In that month, price peaks of over 340 euros were reached due to fears of gas shortages in the winter.
To replenish supplies, Europe imported much more liquefied natural gas. Asian countries also import more natural gas, because it is very hot in that region and therefore the demand for electricity for air conditioning is increasing and more gas is being burned in power plants. This leads to increased competition in the natural gas market for European buyers, which can have a knock-on effect on prices.
Also, there are fewer gas deliveries from Norway due to maintenance work on Norwegian gas fields and plants.