The price of natural gas in Europe had risen by 35% at the opening of trading on Monday, data from the London Stock Exchange ICE shows. Higher energy costs are being propelled by supply worries due to sanctions against Moscow related to the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia provides around 40% of the continent’s gas supplies.
April futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands jumped to $1,454 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The spike in prices comes amid sweeping anti-Russia sanctions introduced last week by the USA, EU, Great Britain, and a number of other states after Moscow launched a special “demilitarization” operation in Ukraine, seen by the West as an act of aggression.
To add fuel to that fire, UK oil and gas supermajor BP on Monday announced that it is quitting Russian energy major Rosneft, also in protest against the operation in Ukraine.
Industry analysts fear the situation may bring about a disruption of Russian gas supply to the global market.
Meanwhile, Russia’s major gas exporter Gazprom said on Monday it is continuing with its regular gas supply for transit to Europe via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, part of which runs through Ukrainian territory.
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