OREANDA-NEWS. The price of gas on the spot market in the European Union jumped for the first time in history to almost $ 1,000 per thousand cubic meters. The futures market is not lagging behind - contracts for the supply of gas in October also approached $ 1,000, according to the data of the London stock exchange trading. On Monday, Gazprom abandoned an auction to book capacities in Ukraine and Poland to increase gas transit from Russia to the EU. But the Russian gas giant is fulfilling a contract to pump gas through Ukraine to the EU, said Sergei Makogon, general director of Ukraine's Gas Transportation System.

The previous record was on September 15 - the price of gas on the European futures market soared to $ 960 per thousand cubic meters.

Since the beginning of the year, Gazprom has constantly maintained gas supplies from Russia to the EU at a record high, but now it seeks to fill Russian storage facilities with gas first of all before winter.

Half-empty gas storages in Europe and the desire of EU and US politicians to block the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline support abnormally high fuel prices, which have grown 5 times since the beginning of the year, the traders surveyed say. The launch of the pipeline could double gas supplies to the EU from the Russian Federation and bring down the cost of fuel.

The price of gas has been constantly breaking records since the beginning of the year, when frosts raged in the EU and the US, and EU air conditioners in an abnormally hot summer increased energy consumption and the demand for gas for power plants. Under the contract, the volume of gas transportation to the EU in 2021 through Ukraine decreased from 65 to 40 billion cubic meters. All these factors made it difficult to replenish gas reserves in the EU ahead of winter.