By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- European natural gas futures leaped at the opening on Monday, after Russian gas monopoly Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) shut down the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany, raising fears of a total shutdown of Russian supplies over the winter.
The front-month Dutch TTF contract, which serves as a benchmark for northwest Europe, leaped as much as 31% before retracing a little to trade at 265 euros a megawatt-hour by 02:15 ET (06:15 GMT). That's a gain of 23.5% from Friday's close.
Gazprom's action was the second in a major escalation in the economic struggle sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Gazprom had released its news immediately after the close of trading in natural gas in Europe on Friday, and hours after G-7 finance ministers had agreed on the need to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports.