MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The price of gas on the exchange in Europe has surpassed $700 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since January 2023 amid statements by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the elite unit of the Iranian Armed Forces) on blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, according to data from London’s ICE.
The price of April futures contracts at the TTF hub in the Netherlands has jumped to around $711 per 1,000 cubic meters, or 59.015 euro per MWh (based on the current exchange rate of euro to dollar, figures for ICE are presented in euros per MWh).
The price growth since the beginning of the day has exceeded 30%.
Earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to burn any tanker attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced later that the Strait of Hormuz was still open for civil navigation.
Moreover, state-owned oil and gas company Qatar Energy has announced suspension of production of LNG and related products due to Iran’s air strikes. Qatar is the world’s third largest LNG exporter after the US and Australia. Its LNG production capacity is 77 mln tons per annum. The country has also announced plans to expand its LNG plants to 142 mln tons.
The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. At the same time, US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power. As a result of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.