Benchmark natural gas prices in Europe are heading for their longest streak of weekly increases this year, intensifying pressure on households and businesses and threatening to push economies into recession, reports Bloomberg. Also in Romania prices rose sharply, after the reduction of Russian supplies.

Quotations rose again on Friday, after closing at a record high on Thursday. In recent weeks, the market has tightened further as extremely hot and dry weather has disrupted fuel transport on rivers and limited hydro and nuclear power production. As a result, demand for gas is increasing at a time when supplies from Russia are decreasing.

In the spring, at the TTF hub in Amsterdam, where reference prices for natural gas in Europe are set, quotations reached a record level of almost 335 euros for a Megawatt hour (MWh), and on Friday they registered an advance of 0, 8%, to 242.99 euros/MWh, according to Agerpres. It is the fifth consecutive week of gas price increases, the longest period since mid-December.

“Abnormally hot and dry weather is likely to multiply Europe’s energy crisis in the short term, reducing supply sources increasing demand for gas and increasing pressure on prices,” say Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.

In the past year, the high price has already forced the closure of about half of the zinc and aluminum smelters in Europe, but more are preparing to close.