Last week, trading in August 2025, September 2025 and subsequent months continued. In total, 4 companies formed positions for the purchase and sale of natural gas: LTC Electrum, GTS Operator of Ukraine, D.Trading, and Ukrzaliznytsia.
The starting prices of resources in the mid- and long-term market section varied widely. As a result, as of Friday, the average starting price of September resources in the GTS was 3.33% higher than on Monday. Last week, only buy positions were sold. In total, 20,700.00 thousand cubic meters of natural gas were sold, 17700 of which were purchased by the GTS Operator of Ukraine. Last week’s bidders formed the following quotation prices:
In the sections “Cross-border, customs warehouse” and “Imported natural gas”, the initiators formed starting positions, but no selling prices were formed in these sections last week.
On the short-term natural gas market of the UEEX , participants placed bids on the intraday market. The deals were concluded for delivery to the Ukrainian gas transmission system. The weighted average price of the DAM on Friday, August 15, amounted to UAH 20200 excluding VAT.
European market
Gas prices declined last week. TTF futures dropped to around 32 euros/MWh. Gas stocks continue to grow, and geopolitical risks did not create a new shock in the short term. Steady gas supplies from Norway and high LNG imports offset some of the problems.
At the same time, the energy landscape was shaken by several strategic moves: Centrica and ECP (Energy Capital Partners) bought the Isle of Grain LNG terminal, Europe’s largest, for about €1.5 billion, sending a clear signal to the market about long-term dependence on imported gas, even as demand for its use in the power sector fell. In addition, Centrica has signed an agreement with the US-based Devon Energy to supply the equivalent of five LNG cargoes annually for a decade, another foundation that lays the groundwork for Europe’s energy security.
Month-ahead contracts at all analyzed hubs showed a different trend relative to spot prices, with an average increase of 1.64%. Quarter-ahead prices were higher than spot prices by an average of 4.68%. The season-ahead prices with an average value of 35.50 EUR/MWh tended to increase compared to the spot prices by an average of 5.77%.
September futures for LNG in Asia, the JKM Platts Future index, settled on August 14 at $426.38 per thousand cubic meters. US dollars per thousand cubic meters. The futures for LNG delivered to Northwest Europe (LNG North West Europe Marker) closed at $393.80 per mcm. US $/thousand cubic meters.
European LNG terminals operated on August 13 with an average capacity of 79.81%.
LNG stocks in the EU as of August 13, 2025 amounted to 4.336 million cubic meters, according to the Aggregated LNG Storage Inventors.
The storage level of the largest LNG exporter, the United States, according to the latest EIA data as of August 8, 2025, was 3.186 billion cubic feet, which is 6.6% higher than the average for the last five years.
This week, oil prices have declined – for example, Brent is trading in the range of $66-67 per barrel. OPEC+ has announced a significant increase in production (over 500 thousand barrels per day since September), and the imbalance between supply and demand is beginning to be smoothed out as the peak supply season gradually ends.
The meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska is putting the market on edge. If sanctions against Russia are eased, prices could move downward, even to below $60 per barrel. On the other hand, if the opposite is true, the confrontation will escalate, and prices could jump up, approaching or even surpassing $80-90 per barrel.
Gas balance in Ukraine
During the week, natural gas imports from Europe averaged 21 million cubic meters per day (1 million cubic meters higher than the previous week), from Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Slovakia. The Hungarian direction was mainly used, although the share of other directions remained high. Ukraine’s storage facilities held about 10.4 bcm. There was virtually no withdrawal. Injection amounted to about 51 million cubic meters per day.
Interesting things for the week
For the first time, a €500 million loan for gas imports to Ukraine is provided under the EU’s UIF Hi-Bar program , which does not require a Ukrainian state guarantee, Gas United reports. The UIF – Ukraine Investment Framework – is the investment component of the Ukraine Facility program for the rehabilitation of energy infrastructure. The financing was launched at the URC-2024 in Berlin. The EBRD provided the funds for gas imports under the Hi-Bar facility, which aims to remove barriers to mobilizing the financing needed to accelerate the transition of the energy sector to net-zero, which involves the maximum possible reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Romania is the most accessible country in Europe for digital nomads, according to a study by Omio. The index looked at the cost of living, rent, visa requirements, and internet access, with interest in remote work across borders growing fast.
Romania ranked first among European countries in terms of accessibility for digital nomads. Its assets include the lowest cost of living (index 37) and favorable rental conditions (index 7), which are significantly lower than in the US (72).
However, to obtain a digital visa in Romania, you need to prove that you have a monthly income of at least £3,700 (~$5,000), which is a high threshold for many freelancers.
In second place is Albania, which has the same low cost of living and rent but a more lenient income threshold (€1,000), although it lags behind Romania in terms of safety and internet speed.
Georgia is one of the leaders in terms of low living and rental costs, but its mandatory income requirement for a visa — around £2,000 — is higher than in Albania.
Hungary also ranks highly in the regional rankings thanks to its fast internet speeds and moderate income requirements for a visa.
Omio’s research confirms Eastern Europe’s status as the most accessible region for digital nomads. Romania leads the way thanks to its favorable combination of cost of living and infrastructure quality. However, visa requirements — particularly the relatively high level of provable income — remain a barrier for effective freelancers with unstable incomes.
According to a recently published report by Deutsche Bank, the highest increase in rents for three-room apartments in European city centers between 2020 and 2025 was recorded in Southern and Eastern Europe, reaching 206%. These figures are from a study covering 67 cities worldwide, including 28 in Europe.
According to Eurostat, housing prices in the EU rose by 27.3% quarter-on-quarter (from Q1 2020 to Q1 2025), while rents rose by 12.5% between June 2020 and June 2025. However, growth exceeded the average in central city areas.
The most expensive and cheapest cities in 2025:
The highest rental growth (2020–2025):
Overall, the findings show that Southern and Eastern Europe have lost their relative affordability in terms of housing rentals, while the major financial and political centers of Western and Northern Europe remain the most expensive, but affordability in Eastern Europe is declining rapidly.
Novokramatorsk Machine-Building Plant (NKMZ, Kramatorsk, Donetsk region) plans to increase production and sales by 81.5% in 2025 compared to 2024, to UAH 2.08 billion.
The relevant plans are contained in the company’s financial report for 2024, published in the NSSMC disclosure system.
“The company’s activities in 2025 will, with a high degree of probability, be limited. Based on these assumptions for 2025, production plans have been approved for 12,700 tons of machinery and equipment for the metallurgical, mining, construction, lifting, loading, and unloading industries, as well as spare parts,” the report says.
NKMZ notes that this year, the plant’s metallurgical production plans include the manufacture of 21.78 thousand tons of liquid steel, 120 tons of liquid pig iron, 1.1 thousand tons of steel castings, and 100 tons of pig iron, as well as 15.84 thousand tons of forgings.
“The development of projects for the promising further development of the enterprise, the formation of measures aimed at the successful operation of the enterprise, the creation of new equipment and research and development, the technical re-equipment and introduction of resource-saving technologies will begin after the end of the war in Ukraine,” the plant said.
At the same time, measures are planned for 2025 to conduct a supervisory audit of the quality management system by ISOaccelerator to confirm and extend the validity of the ISO 9001:2015 certificate.
The marketing strategy of PJSC NKMZ for the current year is to maintain and expand strategic market segments and increase its presence in Eastern, Central, and Western Europe, and Central Asia.
According to the report, in 2024, the main market segments for NKMZ PJSC products were Asia (54.4% of sales), Europe (24.9%), and Ukraine (17.9%).
In terms of total sales in monetary terms, 55.2% were rolling rolls, 18.1% were metallurgical and rolling equipment, 7.3% were mining and ore equipment, and other equipment accounted for 19.4%.
Investments in production development last year amounted to UAH 28.15 million.
As reported, in 2024, NKMZ’s net income increased 3.2 times compared to the previous year, reaching UAH 1 billion 146 million, with exports to European and Asian countries accounting for UAH 941.3 million (82%). Net profit amounted to UAH 36.33 million (in 2023, the company reported a loss of UAH 856.93 million).
At the same time, in 2024, Slovakia, Lithuania, Egypt, and Luxembourg joined Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan (where exports fell 12.3 times over the year), and India (where exports grew 31 times) as the largest importers of NKMZ products. Supplies within Ukraine increased 5.2 times to UAH 204.6 million.
NKMZ, whose capacity was forced to be mothballed with the start of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, began to partially resume operations in October 2023.
NKMZ is a city-forming enterprise in Kramatorsk, the largest in Ukraine in the production of rolling, metallurgical, forging and pressing, hydraulic, mining, lifting and transport, hydraulic and railway equipment.
Before the war in 2021, the company’s net income exceeded UAH 6 billion.
At the beginning of 2023, the average number of employees exceeded 7,200, and at the beginning of 2025, it was 5,660.
ASIA, EUROPE, EXPORT, NKMZ, PRODUCTION
Support is lowest in France, Spain and Poland, while 21% back authoritarian rule under certain circumstances
Only half of young people in France and Spain believe that democracy is the best form of government, with support even lower among their Polish counterparts, a study has found.
A majority from Europe’s generation Z – 57% – prefer democracy to any other form of government. Rates of support varied significantly, however, reaching just 48% in Poland and only about 51-52% in Spain and France, with Germany highest at 71%.
More than one in five – 21% – would favour authoritarian rule under certain, unspecified circumstances. This was highest in Italy at 24% and lowest in Germany with 15%. In France, Spain and Poland the figure was 23%.
Nearly one in 10 across the nations said they did not care whether their government was democratic or not, while another 14% did not know or did not answer.
Thorsten Faas, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University, who worked on the study, said: “Among people who see themselves as politically to the right of centre and feel economically disadvantaged, their support of democracy sinks to just one in three.
“Democracy is under pressure, from within and without.”
The study was carried out in April and May. More than 6,700 people between the ages of 16 and 26 in Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Poland responded to the ninth annual survey by the YouGov institute for the Tui Foundation, which funds projects dedicated to youth in Europe.
Forty-eight per cent worry that the democratic system in their own country is endangered, including 61% in Germany, where the economy – Europe’s biggest – is ailing and the far right has made significant inroads, fuelled in part by increased backing from young voters.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House, the rise of China, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have shifted power away from Europe in the respondents’ perception, with just 42% counting the EU among the top three global players.
Despite – or perhaps because of – Brexit, the figure was highest among Britons at 50%. Of those surveyed in the UK, 73% wanted a return to the EU, while nearly half of young Europeans (47%) sought stronger ties between the EU and Britain.
The US was seen by 83% as part of the power trio, followed by China with 75% and Russia on 57%.
Rising polarisation is also driving young Europeans to the ideological fringes along with their elders, but a notable gender divide has emerged in the process.
Nearly one in five – 19% – described themselves as politically right of centre, up from 14% in 2021, while 33% called themselves centrists, 32% as leftist and 16% without any designation.
Women in Germany, France and Italy identified as progressive in higher numbers than four years ago, while young men in Poland and Greece have grown more conservative in the same period.
Support for tougher restrictions on migration has grown across the board since 2021, to 38% from 26%.
Most young Europeans expressed hope in the EU’s potential, and two in three overwhelmingly supported their country remaining in the bloc if it still was. But 39% described the EU as not particularly democratic and just 6% said their own national governments worked well, with little need for significant changes.
More than half – 53% – felt the EU was too focused on details and trivial matters. They would like the bloc to tackle the high cost of living, bolster defence against external threats and create better conditions for companies to improve the economy.
Elke Hlawatschek, the head of the Tui Foundation, said: “The European project, which has brought us peace, freedom of movement and economic progress for decades, is seen as unwieldy.”
Greek people see the strongest need for fundamental overhaul of their political system and are most sceptical about the EU, which Faas described as rooted in enduring trauma of the eurozone debt crisis that drove their country’s economy to the brink.
Despite stronger support for climate protection among young Europeans, just one in three said it should take priority over economic growth. The figure has slipped from 44% in 2021.
BREXIT, EUROPE, EUROPEAN UNION, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, NEWS, Young people
The rise in energy prices as a result of the conflict in the Middle East could weaken economic growth in the eurozone and thus smooth out inflation, said Luis de Guindos, deputy head of the European Central Bank (ECB).
“The emergence of the Iranian-Israeli conflict adds some uncertainty to the dynamics of oil prices,” The Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying. It is therefore important to keep a close eye on developments in the real economy as an indicator of inflation prospects.”
According to de Guindos, the increase in duties on European exports to the United States will certainly slow down inflation in the currency bloc, including because it will weaken economic growth.
“Higher duties are expected even if bilateral negotiations are successful,” the deputy head said. The ECB cut its key policy rate in June and made it clear that it was nearing the end of its monetary easing cycle. In May, inflation in the euro area was below the 2% target.
However, de Guindos’ comments suggest that the rate may have to be cut further to keep inflation around 2%, the WSJ writes.
Source: http://relocation.com.ua/rising-energy-prices-could-weaken-economic-growth-in-europe/
