MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. The natural gas market in Europe is tight now and any incident may result in a rise in prices, CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne said at a teleconference.

"You know it’s very volatile, it’s clear, the market is in tension. There is no margin in this market," the chief executive said. "The strike in Australia, then you had the stoppage of Tamar field in Israel, which was going to Egypt and then as LNG to Europe, then you had this Baltic pipeline," Pouyanne noted.

"Yes, the storages are full, but we don’t have enough storage in Europe for the winter, if the winter is cold. Any event in these conditions is putting the price up," he added.

Asian buyers have also returned to LNG market, the TotalEnergies CEO noted. "The Asian buyers are back in the LNG business. Today the JKM [hub price] is TTF [hub price] plus 2-3 dollars, which means that in fact they are ready to buy. Today most of the cargoes are going to Asia, because the spot market is in favor of Asia," Pouyanne said.

The weather in winter and such incidents like an emergency at the Freeport LNG plant last year will play an important role and may immediately influence the market, he added.

Natural gas is now traded in Europe at about $550 per 1,000 cubic meters.