OREANDA-NEWS   Natural gas prices in the United States have fallen to the lowest in ten months amid less cold than expected weather. February futures closed down 3.2 percent, to $ 146 per thousand cubic meters.

At the same time, the quotes were not too affected by the reduction of fuel reserves in storage facilities ahead of forecasts against the background of severe frosts. Analysts expected a drop of 5.7 billion cubic meters from December 17 to December 23, and the decrease was 6.03 billion.

According to Refinitiv, the average demand for natural gas in the United States, taking into account exports, will soon fall by 1.27 times with a significant increase in production over the past four days.

Gas prices in Europe are also falling by more than five percent, to $900 per thousand cubic meters, which is lower than in the same period a year earlier. On Monday, December 26, the cost of fuel dropped to $ 850. Compared with the September highs, gas has fallen in price by almost four times. One of the reasons for such dynamics is the maximum occupancy of underground gas storage facilities (UGS) for many years.

In October, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, claimed that during the winter peak of cold weather in Europe, entire cities could freeze. Already in December, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stressed that without Russian gas, Europe is doomed to a crisis.