European natural gas prices rise as Russian mutiny adds to supply fear

European natural gas jumped as nervousness over a short-lived rebellion in Russia added to supply fears in an already volatile market.

Benchmark futures rose as much as 13% on Monday. Gas has soared more than 30% this month with prolonged production outages in Norway countering sluggish demand. Price fluctuations have surged in June, and the dramatic mutiny in Russia over the weekend is only likely to roil markets further.

“Russian geopolitical risk now is significantly higher than before the weekend,” said Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at ICIS in London. “The uncertainty of what could happen in the coming weeks within Russia itself, rather than within Ukraine,” is pushing gas higher.