New developments in Russia-Ukraine war lead to spike in natural gas futures

Ukraine's attack on Russian soil, near an important transshipping point for Russian gas to Europe, has taken the uncertainty over the gas market up another notch, sending futures contracts up to new year-highs.

On Wednesday, September contracts shot up to 39.49 euros per megawatt-hour. By Thursday, the price had dropped slightly, to 38.62 euros per MWh.

Russia's Gazprom announced that 37.3 million cubic meters of natural gas would transit through the Sudzha transshipping point on Thursday, lower than the average of 42 million recorded in recent months. This is due to lower demand, according to news agency Bloomberg.