European gas prices dipped below €30 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first time since June 2021 on Thursday afternoon.
Warmer weather and Europe's successful sourcing of alternatives to Russian fossil fuels are largely easing pressures on energy prices across the continent.
At around 16:00, natural gas prices on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) futures market - widely considered to be the European benchmark price - fell as low as €29.85 per MWh, before rising above €30 per MWh again before trading closed.
The decline marks a further milestone for European gas prices after prices fell below €40 per MWh in March this year - lower than they were before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"The overall level of natural gas consumption has continued to fall," Bjarne Schieldrop, a commodities analyst at SEB, a financial services group, told Belga News Agency. "The European energy crisis has indeed been interrupted thanks to an exceptional adaptation by the EU following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia."
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As late as August last year, European gas prices were as high as €345 per MWh, as concerns over Europe's ability to source alternatives to Russian energy before winter set in caused prices to skyrocket across the EU.
Despite the recent decline, European gas prices remain roughly double what they were in the years before Russia's invasion: in 2020, prices fluctuated around €15 per MWh.
