Gas price in Europe surpasses $1,600 per thousand cubic meters

The price of gas in Europe surged to over $1,600 per 1,000 cubic meters during Wednesday trading, according to data provided by London's ICE, TASS reports

The total increase in the gas price has reached 15%.

The price of gas futures for April delivery at the TTF hub in the Netherlands went up to $1,607 per 1,000 cubic meters, or 140 euro per MWh (on the basis of the current euro exchange rate against the dollar, prices at ICE are in euro per MWh).

Meanwhile, the Russian Yamal-Europe pipeline was halted on Wednesday after westbound flows overnight from Poland to Germany while there were bids for eastbound supply, data from pipeline operator Gascade showed.

The German-Polish section of the pipeline switched into reverse mode on December 21 as buyers in Poland drew on stored supplies from Germany rather than buying more Russian gas at high spot prices.

Russian gas supplier Gazprom in recent days has intermittingly sent gas westward via the link amid high demand in Europe.

The pipeline usually accounts for about 15% of Russia's westbound supply of gas to Europe and Turkey.

Gazprom also said on Wednesday that it was shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine, another major route for Russian deliveries, in line with customers' requests.

The price of gas futures has been rising as the US, the EU, the UK and some other countries have slapped sanctions on a number of Russian legal and physical entities after Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics.