The gunfire temporarily ceased, but the blockade remains in place. European natural gas is tending to stabilize amidst the tug-of-war between the United States and Iran.

Although the United States extending the ceasefire agreement brought a cautious optimism to some markets, the prospects of US-Iran conflict remain unclear, and as a result, European natural gas prices have stabilized. After experiencing volatile fluctuations in the previous trading day, benchmark futures prices hovered around 42 euros per megawatt-hour. US President Trump stated on Tuesday that after the peace talks between the US and Iran broke down, he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire deadline for Iran before its expiration, while continuing to maintain the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. With the actual blockade still in place in the Strait of Hormuz, about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas shipments are disrupted, and traders are closely monitoring developments in the Middle East situation. Although the majority of natural gas flows through this passage originally headed to Asia, Europe is rushing to replenish its natural gas stocks before the next winter, and may face fierce competition for alternative gas sources in the coming months. Trump stated on Tuesday that the US would delay a new round of military strikes, but would continue to detain vessels related to Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, "until the relevant negotiations end in some way." Meanwhile, Iran stated on Wednesday that they have received "some signals" indicating that the US is willing to lift the blockade, opening up a path for negotiations between the two countries. Analysts at Deutsche Bank pointed out in a report, "Trump's decision to extend the ceasefire has led to a certain degree of rebound in the market during overnight trading. However, the extent of the market's decline this morning is relatively limited." As of the time of writing, the near-month futures contract as the European natural gas benchmark in the Netherlands saw a slight increase of 0.45%, trading at 42.12 euros per megawatt-hour. This contract had previously seen a cumulative increase of over 8% in the past two trading days.