Saxo Bank assesses the damage to Europe if Russia does not increase gas supplies
BRUSSELS, Oct 5 – PRIME If gas supplies from Russia do not increase in the near future, and the winter is cold, then in the European Union there may be very high electricity prices and interruptions in supply to consumers, Ole Hansen, head of the commodity market strategy department at Saxo Bank, told RIA Novosti.
The expert gave a forecast for oil prices until the end of the year
Worries about winter energy shortages are fueled by low levels of gas reserves in European storage facilities. Added to this is intense global competition for gas, he said.
Moreover, the increase in stimulus to the global economy due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus has led to a sharp increase in demand for electricity around the world, the expert noted.
“We expect that if Russia does not restrain gas supplies in order to reach agreement on the support of Nord Stream 2, then Gazprom will increase supplies after the internal storage facilities are full. – said the expert.
The price of “blue fuel” in the European Union is at a high level and regularly conquers new peaks. In particular, the price of gas futures in Europe renewed its record on Tuesday, exceeding $ 1,450 per 1,000 cubic meters. Thus, it jumped by more than 25% to the level of Monday, according to trading data on ICE Futures.
Experts noted that wholesale electricity prices in the European Union rose against this background to record levels. This situation also affects the cost of consumers to consumers, but to varying degrees, since the pricing schemes in the EU countries are different.
The European Union is currently looking for options to mitigate the situation, and new recommendations from the European Commission on certain aspects of the functioning of the gas market are not ruled out. The topic of rising electricity prices will be raised at the summit of leaders of the countries in October.
