Domestic Gas Consumption Fell Significantly in August

Natural gas consumption fell by 22% in August compared to last year, the lowest level in the last eight years, the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH) said on Tuesday in its latest report.

They stressed that with the further increase in Serbian supplies, domestic storage facilities received 10% more gas in August compared to the previous month. The level of filling reached 62.5%, which is significantly above the EU's expectations, they added.

They recalled that spot gas prices continued to rise in August, mainly on the back of news about the closure of Nord Stream. From around EUR 200 per megawatt hour in July, prices rose to over EUR 310 per day on the daily market for a few days in the middle of the month.

Forward prices also followed the rise in spot prices, with the next month's product soaring to EUR 340 per megawatt-hour and the 2023 annual product rising to almost EUR 200, they said.

In the race for LNG resources, European markets continue to pay a significant premium to Asian markets, with the price differential rising to EUR 80 per megawatt hour at the end of August, they pointed out.

According to MEKH, imports of natural gas to the European market were 5% lower than the previous year and the average daily volume was 6% down on the previous month. LNG deliveries were 9% lower than in July.

Russian sources were also down a further 6% from July's low, they detailed. On the Nord Stream pipeline, deliveries remained at around 20% of capacity for the month, but stopped completely on 31. Turkish Stream has become the most important route for Russian gas, with shipments up 17% on an annual basis and 2% on a monthly basis, the agency said in a statement.