The European natural gas crisis is getting even worse

The European natural gas crisis is getting even worse, according to Bank of America.

In a Monday research note, the investment bank highlighted Russia’s actions to limit supply to the region, adding that winter stockpiles could run low.

“The European gas situation is quickly moving from our ‘bad’ to our ‘ugly’ scenario in the past month,” the bank said.

Russia is Europe’s largest individual energy supplier, and accounts for 40% of the region’s natural gas consumption.

It’s subsequently led countries such as Germany and France to find ways to plan on rationing gas supplies to build up inventory ahead of the colder months. Some cities in Germany for example, have been turning off spotlights on historic monuments and buildings to save energy.

“With Nord Stream 1 pipeline flows at 20% of capacity, storage builds into winter could be insufficient and the EU is now planning for widespread demand rationing. How did this happen?” Bank of America said.

In this context, TASS reported that the price of gas in Europe on Tuesday surpassed $2,200 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to London’s ICE.

Last week, the price of gas rose above $2,200 for the first time since the beginning of March against the backdrop of declining supplies via Nord Stream, and then exceeded $2,300 per 1,000 cubic meters.

The price of September futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands rose to $2,207 per 1,000 cubic meters, or 208.5 euro per MWh.Basma Qaddour