Europe’s Wild Gas Price Swings Hurt Industry

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(Bloomberg) — Persistent price swings in Europe’s natural gas market are limiting appetite among industrial companies to ramp up fuel usage, even after the worst of the region’s energy crisis has passed.

Implied volatility in benchmark Dutch gas — a measure of how expensive derivative contracts are — has subsided since the start of the year, signaling that confidence in the market is building. Still, it remains well above pre-crisis levels as price swings have become more common. With summer contracts trading higher than those for this winter, a substantial increase in industrial consumption appears to remain some way off.