Wind power generation in Europe has fallen sharply, by as much as half, and spot prices for gas and gas withdrawals from storage facilities have risen as a result.
Wind power generation fell below 8% of the European energy mix on Tuesday, from 15% on Monday and an average of 18% for the past week, when it peaked at 22.4%, according to WindEurope data.
The day-ahead contract for today at the Dutch TTF gas hub in the Netherlands rose 7% in the space of a day to $1,425 per thousand cubic meters. In Asia, the most expensive winter futures contract for February on the JKM Platts index has risen to $1,154.
Europe has begun withdrawing gas from its UGS facilities intensively, and inventories in storage facilities are currently 93.62%, a figure that is 10.6 percentage points above the five-year average.
Inventories "thinned" 0.27% during the gas day on November 28, the most in the withdrawal season so far.
