The reference price for natural gas in Europe continued to fall on Tuesday, recording the longest period of decline in the last year, as liquefied gas supplies from the US increase, Bloomberg reports.

At the TTF hub in Amsterdam, quotations for natural gas with delivery for the next month fell by 8.3% on Tuesday, reaching around 98 euros for a Megawatt-hour, this being the fifth consecutive day of decrease. An increasing number of ships carrying liquefied natural gas are heading for Europe, raising expectations that new deliveries will help rebalance the market.

Traders are also closely monitoring Russia’s willingness to reserve pipeline capacity to deliver more natural gas to Europe in January. The results of the tender for the reservation of transit capacity will provide an indication of the plans of the Russian group Gazprom PJSC’s for January, according to Agerpres.

According to Bloomberg, the number of cargoes loaded with liquefied gas from the US heading to European ports has increased by more than a third in recent days. There are currently 20 ships loaded with liquefied gas heading to Europe, up from 15 the day before Christmas Eve. In addition, another 14 ships are heading to Europe while awaiting their final marching orders.

Europe is attracting more liquefied gas supplies at a time when large Asian buyers are opting to use their stocks this winter instead of buying new quantities. In addition, forecasts of favorable weather developments for much of Europe over the next week will limit energy demand. However, the market remains tense as forecasts show that temperatures will fall below normal in the second week of January.