European natural gas prices drop amid reports of secret Iran peace outreach in General Energy News 04/03/2026 European prices fell on Wednesday, cooling following a recent surge, following a report of a secret peace outreach to end the ongoing conflict in Iran. In early afternoon trading, the Dutch TTF benchmark had dropped by 8.5% to $49.695 per megawatt-hour, retreating earlier gains and a three-year high notched in the prior session. The move comes after the New York Times reported that Iranian operatives have made an offer to discuss terms for ending the conflict with the U.S. and Israel. Citing officials briefed on the outreach, the paper flagged that U.S. officials are skeptical that either the Trump administration or Iran are ready to take such an offramp. Israeli officials, keen on inflicting maximum damage on Iran’s military apparatus and possibly overthrowing Tehran’s government, have told the U.S. to ignore the approach, the New York Times reported. In public, Iran’s leaders have not made any moves to try to negotiate with Washington. Fighting between Tehran and the joint forces of the U.S. and Israel has fueled concerns over a choking off of crucial natural-gas supplies out of the Middle East, causing a spike in prices earlier this week. The increases have been particularly prevalent in Europe and Asia, two regions heavily reliant on natural-gas imports to maintain everyday utilities like electricity and heating. The U.S., on the other hand, makes enough of its own natural gas to help insulate it from these pressures — but analysts have noted that increased demand for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, elsewhere in the world could still influence domestic prices. Nearly a fifth of the world’s natural gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway to the south of Iran. A senior official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has suggested that any vessel attempting to move through the strait could be targeted, although U.S. President Donald Trump has floated potentially having naval escorts for ships in the area. An Iranian attack on a key facility in Qatar earlier this week further ratcheted up these fears. Qatar, a major gas exporter, halted shipments in the wake of the strike. For the oil and gas sector, supply interruptions are the main risk facing the Middle East, said Mali Chivakul, Emerging Markets Strategist at J. Safra Sarasin Sustainable AM. Source: Investing.com 2026-03-04 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share