European wholesale natural gas prices eased on Monday as traders booked profits following last week’s surge, which had pushed front-month Dutch TTF futures and equivalent British contracts to five-month highs.
Dutch TTF front-month futures and British wholesale gas contracts each declined 0.8% on Monday, paring a 7% weekly gain that had marked the strongest performance since March. The retreat mirrored a broader retreat in global oil benchmarks, with Brent crude futures falling roughly 1.5% to trade near $91.80 a barrel after a 5% advance the prior week.
Traders cited tactical profit-taking as the primary driver behind the minor pullback in energy markets. Underlying fundamentals, however, remained tight, with European storage levels still constrained by prolonged Middle East shipping disruptions and persistent underground shortfalls.
Attention turned to Washington, where U.S. officials were set to unveil sweeping new economic sanctions targeting foreign trade partners engaged with Iran. A press conference scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was expected to detail the scope of the punitive measures, escalating diplomatic pressure against Tehran.
Iran responded by warning it would halt all energy exports from the Persian Gulf if the sanctions campaign continued, intensifying geopolitical risks in a region critical to global energy supply chains.
The European natural gas market remains sensitive to developments in Middle East trade flows and U.S. policy actions, with storage levels and shipping disruptions continuing to shape price dynamics.
