The Strait of Hormuz "opens and closes" as European natural gas prices soar.

Shortly after reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran once again closed it, causing disruptions in the energy transportation route in the Persian Gulf and leading to a rise in European natural gas prices. The European benchmark TTF natural gas futures prices rose 11% to 43 euros per megawatt-hour (equivalent to 50.56 US dollars). This trend recovered most of the losses from last Friday, when Iran announced that the waterway had been reopened for commercial vessels. European natural gas futures rose due to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Masanori Odaka, Vice President of the Natural Gas and LNG Market Research Department at Rystad Energy, said on Monday that unless Europe can attract more LNG supply, it will not be able to replenish its natural gas inventories. However, Europe will have to compete with Asia, which also needs to make up for the shortfall caused by interruptions in Qatar's supply. Odaka said: "There may be two scenarios - the price difference between European TTF and Asian JKM benchmarks narrows, or the situation of shrinking demand in Europe worsens." The situation in the Strait of Hormuz has been constantly changing, with ships in the waterway being attacked over the weekend and Iran issuing warnings to passing vessels. In the past few days, several tankers carrying Qatari LNG have approached the strait, but ultimately all turned back or anchored in place, choosing not to pass through the strait. Since the end of February, when the United States and Israel began attacking Iran, there has been no LNG exports from the region, impacting approximately one-fifth of the global LNG supply.