LONDON - European gas prices fell on Wednesday, extending a slide from last week, as inventories built up and traders bet that supplies from Russia will remain steady despite the war in Ukraine.
The Dutch front-month gas contract, the European benchmark, was down 1.6% at 97.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0845 GMT. It has fallen by more than 10% since last week.
"The market is oversupplied," said Rystad Energy analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen. "There is a lot of gas in storage and more coming in from Russia."
Russia is Europe's biggest gas supplier, and there are concerns that the war in Ukraine could disrupt supplies. However, so far, flows have been steady.
On Tuesday, Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company, said it would continue to supply gas to Europe in line with its contractual obligations.
The European Commission is working on a plan to reduce the bloc's reliance on Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of the year. However, it is unclear how quickly this can be achieved.
In the meantime, European gas prices are likely to remain volatile.