 |
| AP |
Putin is a sociopath, in case anyone needs a reminder. -
When Vladimir Putin indicated last week that Russia could be ready to ease Europe's energy crisis, the markets breathed a sigh of relief.
Prices for natural gas had been soaring earlier that day, part of a pattern over recent months as increased demand -- sparked by economies opening up after COVID lockdowns -- combined with lower stocks in Europe following last year's long winter.
Russia is the largest gas supplier to the European Union, which is increasingly dependent on natural gas imports, and it has the power to make a difference.
But there is no evidence that Russia has increased gas supplies since Putin's speech, nor for that matter, before.
Russia says it has fulfilled its long-term contracts but experts have questioned why the country hasn't taken advantage of the prices to trade more on the European market.
“The deliveries from Gazprom, which has a monopoly on pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe, are at the regular rate. They have, as far as we know, followed all the contractual commitments,” Dennis Hesseling, head of the infrastructure, gas, and retail department at the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, told Euronews last week.
He said that normally gas exporters make more gas available to dampen rising prices.
“You would expect parties to react to price signals. In the past, we saw Gazprom reacting to opportunities in the European market. That's not happening now, and we don't know why that is not the case.”
Some European politicians and experts are concerned that Russia is attempting to pressure regulators to approve the newly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline; other experts argue that Russia doesn't have spare gas and is trying to fill up its own storage ahead of winter.
Natural gas is the main energy source for heating homes in the EU and is thus subject to much higher demand in the winter.
At the moment, natural gas storage in Europe is low at around 76%, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe. This time last year, it was at around 95% full.
Putin maintained last week that Russia is a “reliable supplier” to Europe that "fulfils all its obligations in full," according to a Kremlin translation of his speech, but suggested that Russia could send some additional gas to Europe.
His spokesman Dmitry Petrov also told reporters there was "potential" for existing gas pipelines to supply more natural gas to the EU, the AP reported.
Jack Sharples, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, who is also an expert on Russia and Gazprom, said Putin's influence on the market showed "this is a very jumpy market".
"In addition to the supply and demand fundamentals, we're probably seeing a fair amount of speculation. This is visible in the fact that price movements [at the end of last week] have been far out of proportion to the fluctuations in physical gas flows coming into Europe."
Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, argues that it is "now pretty evident" that Russia is involved in the crisis: "They want to show that gas is important, that Russian gas is important for Europe."
"Now, they might also contribute to end this crisis and to demonstrate they are a reliable supplier. Otherwise, they would just damage further the image of gas and the role of gas in the European energy mix as being perceived as unreliable fuel," he added.
The gas crisis could still put pressure on the German regulator and European Commission to approve the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would pump 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year into the bloc.
The Kremlin has insisted the pipeline's launch would help ease the European gas crisis.
European parliamentarians first raised the concern that Russia was withholding gas to encourage the opening of the controversial pipeline in mid-September, demanding an investigation into potential market manipulation. (Read more)
Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment