Gas prices rocketed rasied this week almost to record highs , driven by cold weather, concern over possible disruption to Russian supply and delays to the new Nord Stream 2 pipelines.

The benchmark front-month contract on the Dutch TTF hub climbed as high as 120 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on Tuesday, close to record intraday levels seen in early October.

Prices in Europe had jumped this year by as much as 700% by October, with British prices up around 500%.

The power price shock along with rallies in oil prices are also adding to wider inflationary pressures.

Typically Europe would fall back on gas stocks built up over the summer months but demand has been far higher this year as economies started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The European Commision is expected to propose a system for EU countries to voluntarily jointly buy gas to form strategic reserves later this week, but any action is likely to come too late to bolster current stock levels.

ames Huckstepp Manager, manager EMEA Gas Analytics at S&P Global Platts said Europes storage could be just 14% when the winter season ends on March 31, leaving little buffer for below normal temperatures or supply outages.