German finance minister stressed that Berlin will not allow a Lehman Brothers-style domino effect to occur in the natural gas market
Countries such as Germany and Italy, which are heavily dependent on Russian gas imports, are building up their stockpiles ahead of winter, when demand peaks. German Finance Minister Robert Habeck said today that Germany’s natural gas storage facilities have been paid for percentage greater than 80% and that he expects prices to decline. Italy has achieved a similar level of storage, creating a cushion against impending supply disruptions.
“As a result, markets will calm down and fall”Habeck said.
Habeck also reiterated that Germany will not allow a domino effect to occur in its natural gas market Lehman Brothers.
“I promise on behalf of the German government that we will continuously ensure liquidity for all energy companies so that we don’t have the Lehman Brothers effect in the market,” Hambeck said, referring to the collapse of the US investment bank that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. .
A less optimistic forecast was made by the head of gas major Shell, who warned that gas shortages may continue.
“We may have several winters where we have to somehow find solutions,” Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden told a news conference at the energy conference in the Norwegian city. Stavanger.
The founder of the Tesla company Elon Musk he told reporters at the same event that the world must continue to extract oil and natural gas to preserve human civilization while developing sustainable energy sources.
“Realistically speaking I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term because otherwise human civilization will collapse,” Musk said.
Zelensky accuses Russia of ‘economic terrorism’
The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia today of engaging in economic terrorism by trying to prevent European countries from stockpiling natural gas ahead of winter, when the impact of increased electricity bills will cause difficulties in heating households and businesses.
How Europe will respond to rising gas prices, made worse by supply cuts from Russia, is the main question on the political agenda across the continent as autumn approaches.
Zelenskiy spoke via video call at an energy conference taking place in Norway. His comments came as Russia’s Gazprom plans repairs this week that could disrupt flows through the natural gas pipeline. Nord Stream 1 which connects Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
The Ukrainian president also called for sanctions against Russia’s Rosatom group for its nuclear blackmail, its “radiation blackmail” at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is held by the Russian military. “It is not normal that there are still no sanctions against Rosatom for its radiation blackmail,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking through an interpreter, without elaborating.
The outage has fueled fears that Russia is cutting supplies to pressure Western countries opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
German electricity reference prices for 2023 exceeded 1,000 euros per megawatt hour for the first time today as supply concerns kept prices of natural gas and related fuels such as electricity and coal high.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said there must be a coordinated response from the European Union, and called extraordinary meeting of energy ministers.
“Ahead of the EU Energy Council, we want to find a way to help people and businesses that we can agree with other European leaders,” he added. The Czechs, who took over the European presidency this semester, announced that the meeting will take place on September 9. The Czech Republic announced last week that it is eyeing support for an EU-wide cap on energy prices, an initiative that outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has backed.
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