Fears over gas supplies from Russia caused its price in Europe to soar to a new all-time high on Friday, while oil and metal prices rose sharply.
Fear of disruption of Russian exports, which provide 40% of European gas imports, pushed the European market benchmark, the Dutch TTF, to a new record, at 213.895 euros (almost as much in francs) per megawatt hour (MWh).
British gas for delivery next month also hit a new all-time high at 508.80 pence per therm (a unit amount of heat).
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues: the conflict now engulfs the whole country, and bombardments have hit the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Two rounds of talks, on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and then on the Polish-Belarusian border, did not lead to a cessation of fighting, even though the parties agreed to set up ‘humanitarian corridors’ for the evacuation of civilians.
‘In our opinion, the market now takes it for granted that a very important gas pipeline that passes through Ukraine will be damaged by the fighting,’ judge Ole Hvalbye, an analyst at SEB.
For now, economic sanctions from the West are avoiding the Russian energy sector, but buyers have turned away from this source of crude, fearing a further tightening of the screw.
Around 3:20 p.m. GMT (4:20 p.m. CET), the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May gained 4.68% to 115.63 dollars, approaching its highest since 2012 reached the day before at 119.84 dollars.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery took 5.45% to 113.54 dollars, climbing towards the peak since 2008 reached Thursday at 116.57 dollars.
No Iranian respite
The prices of black gold will therefore only have known a short calm on Thursday evening and at the start of the session on Friday.
A hopeful had taken crude prices off their highs on Thursday ‘with news reports pointing to an imminent Iranian nuclear deal, which would add barrels to the market,’ notes Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets.com
European diplomats who are negotiating in Vienna on the Iranian nuclear file will return to their respective capitals for consultations, the head of the British delegation announced on Friday, believing an agreement is within reach.
For the oil market, a deal would mean that US sanctions would be lifted, allowing Iranian exports to partially offset Russian crude.
Analysts are concerned about the consequences of this surge in materials and energy for households and businesses, while inflation was already galloping before the Russian offensive in Ukraine, due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. 19 and a global logistics crisis.
“We are reaching levels where the industries that consume the most electricity will start to reduce their demand” by ceasing their activities, “which will lead to reduced growth even as inflation increases”, worries Ole Hansen , analyst at Saxo Bank.
Besides gas, on the London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminum reached a new all-time high at 3859.50 dollars and nickel climbed to its highest since 2008 at 30,295 dollars per tonne.
Russia is a major producer of both metals.
/ ATS