Natural gas benchmarks in Europe fell on Wednesday amid speculation that President Donald Trump would hit Russia’s energy trade if a ceasefire is not reached by Friday, Bloomberg reported.
At the TTF gas hub in Amsterdam, where European benchmark prices are set, natural gas futures fell 1.3% to 33.95 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), according to Agerpres.
Rising gas inventories in Europe have eased concerns about supply risks in recent weeks, even as the deadline for a ceasefire approaches.
President Donald Trump has announced that he will impose sanctions on Russia and its trading partners if Moscow does not reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, reducing the deadline on July 29 to 10 days, with an August 8 deadline.
“If the deadline comes and Russia has not agreed to a ceasefire, there will be sanctions. But (Moscow) seems to be quite well prepared to avoid sanctions. They are smart people and quite good at evading them,” Donald Trump said on Sunday.
He has threatened to impose secondary tariffs on countries that continue to trade with Russia, such as China and India. Asked at the White House on Tuesday whether he would impose additional tariffs of 100 percent, Donald Trump replied that “he never talked about the percentage, but we will do a lot of things in that direction.” “We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We will see what happens. We will make that decision then,” the US official said.
The tariffs would potentially limit global energy supplies and increase competition in Europe. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday morning to meet with President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to defuse the conflict.
While any Russian-related actions are unlikely to have a direct impact on European gas prices, traders are on alert for threats to global supplies. The continent is looking to secure enough gas to store before temperatures drop.
Supplies from major supplier Norway are near capacity ahead of scheduled maintenance later this month, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows are above seasonal average.