Gas Price: Ukraine and Europe. Market overview


The first half of March was marked by the resumption of a weak upward trend in prices, which was largely due to the persistence of cold weather in both Ukraine and Europe. Price fluctuations intensified domestic trade, participants actively offered resources for purchase and sale in the coming months.

Ukrainian Energy Exchange

Over the past two weeks, 15 companies-initiators of trades formed starting positions for both sale and purchase. In general, the participants were most often interested in the resource of March and April 2021.


There was a noticeable dynamics of price growth, which was traced from the starting prices of resources. The initiators estimated the resource most expensively in April 2021, but the gap between the starting prices of most monthly resources in VTP was minimal. Resources in UGS were estimated as the cheapest.


The initiating companies actively offered resources in the following months. Thus, PPC put up the starting positions of resources of July and August, which it managed to sell on March 10, at prices of UAH 7,150 for the resource of each of the months. Naftogaz-Trading sold resources until May inclusive.


Natural gas sales prices were rising. Thus, the quoted price of the resource in March on a postpaid basis increased on March 12 by 3.7% compared to March 1, reaching UAH 7,779. In total, 282 million cubic meters were sold in two weeks. m of natural gas, most of which are resources in April and March.

In the short-term market of natural gas UEEX activity remained. Over the past two weeks, 996 thousand cubic meters were sold.The price of the intraday market had an "impulsive" upward trend, so the quoted price on March 11 was 2.2% higher than on March 1, amounting to UAH 7,308.

European Market


European hub prices have recently tended to rise, due to a decrease in the average daily temperature to below seasonal levels.The lowest quotations are observed on the TTF hub, which as of March 12 amounted to EUR 17.97/MWh, which is equivalent to USD 230.27 per thousand cubic meters.

At other hubs, the spot price was higher - up to USD 267. Contracts for the month ahead and the quarter ahead at the end of February were on average equivalent to current spot prices, and the season ahead was 1% more expensive. Oil prices have risen over the past two weeks. The price of futures for February Brent oil as of Friday was USD 69 per barrel. Month + 1 gas prices fell on Friday amid expected LNG inflows and lower CO2 prices, while spot contract prices were held due to lower wind energy forecasts.

Prices of contracts with delivery in due time, euro / MWh, 11/03/2021

Instrument NCGCEGHTTFGaspoolTGE/POLPXCEEGEX/HUDEXAverage value
Day118,3218,3517,9718,2920,8818,0218,64
Apr2118,4518,7018,1418,4920,3018,1418,70
2Q2118,4018,7118,0518,4520,3018,1418,67
S-2118,4318,7518,0918,4320,4118,4718,76

Gas balance in Ukraine


Imports of natural gas from the European direction over the past two weeks were extremely low - 0.1 million cubic meters and was available almost all of Hungary. On the other hand, companies actively exported gas outside Ukraine.

The volume of domestic production averaged about 53.6 million cubic meters per day, which is slightly less than in the past two weeks. Consumption fluctuated due to changes in weather conditions. As of March 10, 17.46 billion cubic meters were stored in Ukraine. which is 5% less than two weeks ago. Withdrawal from UGS was on average about 80 million cubic meters and was the main source of gas supply in the GTS of Ukraine.

Public procurement

In the last two weeks, a relatively small number of tenders have been held - 180, due to the approaching end of the heating season, as well as a short working week. In total, natural gas was purchased at a total cost of UAH 85.6 million.

The largest tender was won by Gazprompostach, which will supply 770.0 thousand cubic meters of natural gas to the Novograd-Volyn apartment-operational part of the district at a price of UAH 6.15 per cubic meter. In general, the average price of the tenders was UAH 7.22.per cubic meter. Prices ranged from UAH 5.91 to UAH 10.36 per cubic meter.


Interesting for the week

On March 5, the NEURC approved the introduction of an annual natural gas price product (the basic annual supply to be offered by suppliers to all household consumers for the period from May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022). In order to protect household consumers of natural gas from price fluctuations for this energy resource, the draft decision proposes to introduce a basic annual proposal. The NEURC invites interested public authorities, individuals and legal entities, their associations and other stakeholders to participate in the discussion of this draft decision and provide possible comments and suggestions to it.

The Turkish government plans to unbundle the monopoly importer and gas transmission company Botas, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on March 11. Bayraktar said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to present plans for economic reform on March 12, which would include secession. However, he has no plans to privatize the company. Despite the deregulated electricity market, he said gas market reforms have so far been hampered by the dominance of long-term import contracts, which have inflexible conditions. But about a third of them are running out very soon, which means more gas could come from many countries and under different conditions, he said.

In March, Poltavagaz Zbut stopped supplying gas to the population. Consumers have switched to the supplier of last resort. Poltavagaz Zbut’s work was blocked due to non-compliance with the requirements of the Gas Transmission System Code. Thus, 349,000 customers of the company automatically receive gas from Naftogaz of Ukraine since the beginning of March. The cost of gas for SLR customers in March is UAH 6.99 / cubic meter (including VAT). The company’s statement says that from April 1, Poltavagaz Zbut will be able again to offer gas for consumers at a competitive price, as it was in previous periods.