Natural gas prices climbed to year highs after reports that Ukrainian troops had seized a key Russian gas transfer station near the city of Sunja.

The futures contracts strengthened by 5.8% and reached 38.79 euros per megawatt hoursurpassing the previous intra-session high they had recorded in early June.

The unofficial Russian military blog Rybar reported that Ukrainian troops seized the natural gas metering station in the Russian city of Sunja, a claim that could not be confirmed, Bloomberg reports.

State-owned Gazprom declined to commentwhile the response of both the Ukrainian Minister of Defense and the armed forces was negative.

Traders are on the lookout for a possible disruption of transport from this point – the last operating station for the transfer of Russian natural gas to Europe – as fighting on the border with Ukraine intensifies. A possible disruption to the flow of natural gas would lead to a spike in prices, affecting consumers and industries, even as Europe is still trying to recover from the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The manager of the Ukrainian natural gas transmission system during the regular briefing said that the flows for Thursday they will move within the normal range. A similar position was taken by Gazprom, which in its own regular update said that flows moved to their usual levels on Wednesday.

The Sunja terminal is the last one left to transport Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine, as the other major terminal, at Sokranovka, was shut down in May 2022. At the time, Russian military forces had occupied the area and Ukrainian Naftogaz had stated that it could not take responsibility for transport through the region. He offered to reroute the transport through Sunja, however Gazprom had said that this was not technically feasible.

However, as stated by the managing gas transit company of Ukraine, Gazprom will continue to send natural gas through Ukraine to Europe. Data from Ukraine’s managing company showed that 41.6 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas are expected to flow from Russia to Europe via Ukraine tomorrow Thursday. Gazprom announced that it will ship 39.4 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine today, up from 42.4 mcm sent on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for its move to send hundreds of troops into Russia’s Kursk region, in the biggest offensive on Russian soil since Russia’s 2023 invasion of the neighboring country.

Austria and Slovakia are the two main remaining importers of Russian natural gas, after Gazprom stopped deliveries to Germany and other countries Two years ago. Although those flows may stop when the deal expires at the end of this year, a sudden and abrupt halt would create turmoil in the global gas market.