Posted:
01.10.2021 12:32:00
The most expensive heating winter of all time is imminent in Europe
Gas shortages threaten Europe with rising prices and food shortages. Electricity and gas bills have already started to rise, and some countries have also faced fertiliser shortages, the BBC reported.
![]()
According to Action News Now, the wholesale price of natural gas rose to record highs in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Gas prices in Europe have more than tripled since the beginning of the year and, according to Gazprom CEO, Alexei Miller, will continue to break records. The result will be ‘growing discontent among voters already impoverished in the pandemic, as well as the threat of further impoverishment due to the fact that rising utility costs are holding back consumption — the main engine of the European economy’, the BBC reports.
Residents of Germany who heat their homes with gas must be prepared for a sharp rise in energy prices. The reason is record prices for gas and electricity, as well as sharply increased prices for fuel oil. Carsten Fritsch, Commerzbank’s raw material expert, warns that the most expensive winter of all time is inevitable, as written in German edition ‘Bild’.
Dozens of utilities have already raised prices, arguing for the move by higher purchasing prices for natural gas due to sharply increased demand after the economy emerged from the pandemic, as well as relatively empty storage facilities. In the current period of time, the market price for gas is at an all-time high.
Gas supplies from Russia remain limited as the country is restoring its own reserves, and gas exports from Norway were below average due to repairs at fields and processing stations. Experts believe that the final price will depend on many factors, including weather conditions and the pandemic, the volume of gas supplies from Russia to the European market and price competition from Asian countries.
According to the BBC, an extremely unfavourable situation is developing in the UK, which has left the EU. Prices there are growing faster, and the economy is recovering more slowly than those of its European neighbours, because in addition to the coronavirus, the consequences of Brexit, and now also expensive gas, are affecting it.
“The British experience demonstrates how a gas shortage can turn into a food crisis,” writes the BBC and points out that local farmers and supermarkets have already warned of the high likelihood of a rise in food prices.
Earlier, European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, promised that the European Commission in the coming weeks will determine a list of measures that EU member states can apply to solve the problem of high energy prices.
Gas prices in Europe have more than tripled since the beginning of the year and, according to Gazprom CEO, Alexei Miller, will continue to break records. The result will be ‘growing discontent among voters already impoverished in the pandemic, as well as the threat of further impoverishment due to the fact that rising utility costs are holding back consumption — the main engine of the European economy’, the BBC reports.
Residents of Germany who heat their homes with gas must be prepared for a sharp rise in energy prices. The reason is record prices for gas and electricity, as well as sharply increased prices for fuel oil. Carsten Fritsch, Commerzbank’s raw material expert, warns that the most expensive winter of all time is inevitable, as written in German edition ‘Bild’.
Dozens of utilities have already raised prices, arguing for the move by higher purchasing prices for natural gas due to sharply increased demand after the economy emerged from the pandemic, as well as relatively empty storage facilities. In the current period of time, the market price for gas is at an all-time high.
Gas supplies from Russia remain limited as the country is restoring its own reserves, and gas exports from Norway were below average due to repairs at fields and processing stations. Experts believe that the final price will depend on many factors, including weather conditions and the pandemic, the volume of gas supplies from Russia to the European market and price competition from Asian countries.
According to the BBC, an extremely unfavourable situation is developing in the UK, which has left the EU. Prices there are growing faster, and the economy is recovering more slowly than those of its European neighbours, because in addition to the coronavirus, the consequences of Brexit, and now also expensive gas, are affecting it.
“The British experience demonstrates how a gas shortage can turn into a food crisis,” writes the BBC and points out that local farmers and supermarkets have already warned of the high likelihood of a rise in food prices.
Earlier, European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, promised that the European Commission in the coming weeks will determine a list of measures that EU member states can apply to solve the problem of high energy prices.
