The push to fill storage facilities before the start of winter has been successful -- with many close to capacity. But some suppliers may now want to hold back those reserves until they can sell their stored gas at more attractive rates.

Dutch front-month gas, Europe’s benchmark, rose 3.4% to €111 per megawatt-hour at 8:57 a.m. in Amsterdam, paring some of the weekly decline.

While US fuel now makes up 40% of Europe’s liquefied natural gas imports, it will only offset a fraction of the deficit from Russia next summer,

Lower Russian supplies sent European gas prices to all-time highs in late August though prices have come down sharply as storage sites across the EU were filled to close to capacity.

Concluding the plenary part, Maksim Malyarchuk, Executive Director of the Russian-Iraqi Business Council at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, spoke about the activities of the Council and assistance to Russian and Iraqi companies in the new conditions.

As the cleanest hydrocarbon fuel, natural gas is seen as the perfect solution that strikes the right balance, and will continue to play a key role in the future energy mix.

Further in 2023, consumption is forecasted to increase by up to 1.1% driven by China, South and South East Asia and the Middle East.

The other cap in the mix is one to limit the price of gas used in electricity generation, which is backed by a vociferous group of member states.

China's crude imports from Russia have continued to stay elevated through 2022, averaging at 1.71 million b/d over January-August, up 7.3% year on year, according to customs data.

Caps on gas prices top the political agenda in Europe as governments seek to rein in an unprecedented energy crisis triggered by a cut of gas shipments by Russia, the continent’s former biggest supplier.

Coking coal imports from Russia jumped to 2.5 million tons in September, from about 900,000 tons in the same month last year and 1.9 million tons in August, according to Chinese customs data.

Benchmark futures declined as much as 12%, and are about 70% lower from the highs of August.

This €200bn package is expected to include a €96bn subsidy scheme which was introduced earlier in October 2022.

The REPowerEU plan, which aims to end the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and tackle the climate crisis, will seek to raise the share of renewables in the region’s final energy consumption to 45% by 2030.

Qatar is carrying out another expansion plan, North Field East, which will cost almost $30 billion and is set to send out its first shipments in 2026. Some supply agreements have already been finalized for that project, Kaabi said.