At an earlier stage than usual, European gas inventories are well on the way to reach minimum levels prior to the winter season. This has led to a fall in gas prices, given that traders now factor in lower risks for deliveries of Russian gas, writes Bloomberg News.

Dutch gas futures with delivery in October drop by more than 9% Wednesday afternoon.

Although the EU has managed to fill up much of its gas inventories ahead of time, there are still concerns as to which excuse Russia might pull to dial down gas exports to Europe further, writes Bloomberg.

Most recently, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline connecting Russia with Germany has been closed down for a three-day maintenance operation, as announced by Gazprom earlier this week. The company called the upkeep operation crucial, noting that the pipeline must be serviced after 1,000 hours of operation.

President of German energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur Klaus Müller disagrees with this assessment and fears that it’s advance warning of the possibility that Russia will use energy supplies to threaten the union.

On top of this, Gazprom has closed off gas supplies to French utility Engie after alleging that Engie hasn’t paid what it owes for gas deliveries in July.

”Gazprom has notified Engie about a full cutoff of gas from Sep. 1, 2022, as the utility hasn’t paid in full for the July deliveries,” the Russian company recently stated.

Engie has declined to make a comment on Gazprom’s statement.

Gas prices sit at EUR 248.35 per MWh Wednesday afternoon. Last Friday, the prices exceeded EUR 339 per MWh.

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