Gas prices in Europe are rising, reaching a four-month high on Tuesday, following supply disruptions from Israel to Egypt, Bloomberg News reports.

The Israeli government has shut down Chevron Corporation’s Tamar field after the weekend’s war actions in Israel and Gaza.

As a result, gas supplies from Israel to Egypt have fallen by about 20%, Egyptian officials said on Tuesday.

This has sent European gas prices soaring. On Monday, it led to an increase of almost 15%.

European winter gas storage is almost full and gas demand is well below the historical average, but after losing most of its pipeline fuel from Russia last year, Europe is very sensitive to supply changes, Bloomberg News writes.

Egypt was scheduled to resume liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe after a summer break, but the country is now considering the impact of disruptions to fuel shipments from Israel, according to Egyptian officials.

In northwest Europe, temperatures look set to fall below the seasonal average next week, potentially increasing gas consumption for heating.

”Low industrial demand and full inventories are no guarantee of stable prices, and the risk of price volatility, especially in the event of a cold winter, is a concern,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.

At 9.45am on Tuesday, Europe’s benchmark gas was trading 6.4% higher at EUR 46.75 per megawatt-hour.

(Translated by DeepL with additional editing by Christian Radich Hoffman)