A New Wave of Increasing Gas Prices

On November 8, gas prices increased again in Europe. The reason was the information spread by traders that there is no sign that Russia will increase exports to Europe.

At the end of October, Vladimir Putin instructed Gazprom to pump extra fuel into gas depots in Germany and Austria, which, at first glance, was good news.

However, almost two weeks have passed since then and traders do not hide their disappointment – Russia has not booked additional capacity in the gas pipelines and the reservoirs will likely be replenished at the expense of existing supply, which is insufficient not only for reservoirs but also for current consumption.

The European market, which is facing a severe energy crisis in anticipation of the coming winter, will not be able to bring much relief – thus Russia must significantly increase gas supplies to Europe. Total exports to Europe did not increase, although stocks at Gazprom’s stockpiles in Germany and Austria increased slightly. As a result, the average gas price in Europe has risen by 10%.

Recently, Russia has significantly reduced gas exports to Western Europe and attributed the increase in supply to the launch of the new North Stream-2 pipeline. In the conditions of the energy crisis, Gazprom will not increase or decrease the gas supply to Europe via Ukraine and Poland.

This is an open and obvious signal to Europeans – either speed up the certification and launch of North Stream-2, or freeze in the winter.

European politicians accuse Moscow of fomenting the gas crisis and trying to put pressure on European energy regulators. Moscow itself categorically denies all the accusations.

However, at the same time, Moscow does not deny the existence of a parallel between the growth of gas exports and the accelerated launch of North Stream-2.

According to the spokesperson for the Russian president, no progress has been made in the certification of North Stream-2. It seems that this process requires time and patience.