The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price is stretching higher in afternoon trade on Monday.
At the time of writing, Whitehaven is trading 6.78% higher at $8.51 on no news.
In broad market moves, the S&P/ASX 300 Metals and Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is up around 1.6% on the day.
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What's up with the Whitehaven share price?
ASX coal miners have caught a bid today as the price of coal nudges back above 52-week highs of US$435/tonne.
Coal itself has seen a frenzy of buying activity in the past two days. This comes amid news Russian authorities have shut flows from the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline into Europe.
For context, flows were already trimmed back to approximately 20% earlier in the year. This coincided with a large increase in European gas futures.
The reason behind the cited shut-off is a 'technical fault', however, there's no say when flows are set to resume.
The moves have seen traders sell off European and United Kingdom gas futures today. Current-month contracts for each are down 11% and 15%, respectively. See returns for each this year below.
Amid the news ASX coal miners have caught buying attention today, alongside the price of the black rock, forecasts for coal consumption point to an increase this year.
"The International Energy Agency sees coal consumption in Europe rising by 7% in 2022 on top of last year's 14% surge," Trading Economics reports.
Europe is now turning to various countries – including Australia – to wind back its imports from Russia, it added.
Meanwhile, "[d]emand for coal in India, the world's second-biggest coal importer behind China, is expected to rise almost 10% in 2022," said the research firm.
With these catalysts beneath the price of coal, shares of various companies with exposure to the commodity are in focus, evidenced by today's performance.
Meanwhile, the Whitehaven share price is up around 200% in the past 12 months following a 226% year-to-date gain.
