{"id":14298,"date":"2023-06-22T18:50:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=14298"},"modified":"2023-06-22T18:50:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:50:41","slug":"volatility-in-the-price-of-natural-gas-raises-questions-in-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=14298","title":{"rendered":"Volatility in the price of natural gas raises questions in the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The TTF index in the natural gas market in Amsterdam has gone &#8220;crazy&#8221; in the last seven days: The price of natural gas initially registered a series of sharp increases, from levels below 30 euros\/MWh to almost 47 euros. An increase of about 30%. To suddenly retreat again to 31-32 euros\/MWh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most likely this is due to the abolition of subsidies in the EU. \u2013 but to the pervasive nervousness in the market. More specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Norway&#8217;s Nihama natural gas processing plant is currently out of service, with maintenance work taking longer than necessary. As a result, around two billion cubic meters of natural gas will be lost in Europe. This is about 2% of Norway&#8217;s annual output.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The second factor affecting natural gas prices has to do with the increase in demand, both in Europe and Asia, linked to the rise in temperature, which implies an increase in the consumption of electricity, also produced through gas, for the operation of the air conditioners. Asian demand affects the reference price for Europe because it can affect the volumes of natural gas that are actually available on the European Continent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The &#8220;Crazy&#8221; decision of the Netherlands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In any case, the TTF has returned to levels around 30 euros per megawatt hour and at the moment we can rest easy, because reserves are high. But we have to start looking at next winter, because there could be problems. Especially since October, since the Netherlands decided to proceed with the closure of the Groningen gas field, which is the largest in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the whole world is talking about high inflation, despite the rise in interest rates by the ECB, which has no positive effect on the economy, the closure of the Groningen field means a reduction in energy supply, which will lead to higher prices and, consequently, in consistently high inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officially, the Netherlands attributed the closure of the field to a micro-seismic activity that has recently accompanied the mining activities, but \u201csuch a drastic decision at such a time, with the belief that the gas is worthless, is pure madness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Germany maintains the same strange attitude<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same strange attitude applies to Germany, which in mid-April proceeded to disconnect from its network three nuclear plants that were still active. It means that there will be an even greater need for natural gas. And if supply does not increase, energy prices, which have a strong impact on European inflation, will simply rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, if this winter is harsh and there is no gas flow from Russia at all, then there will be a problem. In fact, we should not forget that last winter was not particularly cold and natural gas continued to arrive from Russia, although to a lesser extent than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the EU doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In light of these developments, the E.E. doesn&#8217;t seem to be serious about energy. There is a lot of talk in Brussels about &#8216;REPowerEu&#8217;, but these are investments that, especially with regard to green hydrogen, that do not necessarily give the desired results and, above all, in a short period of time. Investing in green hydrogen to deal with an emergency is absurd, it makes no sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In any case, as far as households are concerned, the real problem is that inflation will only continue to fall if gas prices remain stable at around \u20ac20-30 per megawatt hour. Much will also depend on the continuation of the war in Ukraine and whether Putin continues to send even a little natural gas to Europe. Or whether he will turn off the tap completely<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The TTF index in the natural gas market in Amsterdam has gone &#8220;crazy&#8221; in the last seven days: The price of natural gas initially&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[620,2955],"tags":[2391,25,155,4420],"class_list":["post-14298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-energy","tag-energy","tag-eu","tag-natural-gas","tag-price-volatility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14298"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14301,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14298\/revisions\/14301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}