{"id":245243,"date":"2023-02-25T16:40:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245243"},"modified":"2023-02-25T16:40:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:40:10","slug":"europe-racing-to-refill-gas-storage-for-next-year-despite-mild-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245243","title":{"rendered":"Europe Racing To Refill Gas Storage For Next Year Despite Mild Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From climatechangedispatch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Nora Buli<\/a> and\u00a0Bozorgmehr Sharafedin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Astora natural gas depot, which is the largest natural gas storage in Western Europe, is pictured in Rehden, Germany, March 16, 2022. REUTERS\/Fabian Bimmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Europe emerges from a mild winter with gas storage close to record levels, it must brace for another costly race to replenish its reserves on the international market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European gas prices rallied in the run-up to Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine began almost exactly a year ago and they leaped to record highs when Russia subsequently cut supplies of relatively cheap pipeline gas. [emphasis, links added]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although European prices have eased to around 50 euros ($53) per megawatt-hour (MWh) from last August\u2019s peak of more than 340 euros<\/a>, they remain above historical averages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means European governments face another huge bill<\/a> to refill storage before peak winter demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ward off market volatility and protect against shortage<\/strong>, they will have to repeat the exercise annually<\/strong> until the continent has developed a more permanent alternative to the Russian pipeline gas<\/strong> on which it depended for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts and executives say the\u00a0amounts already in storage will help<\/strong>, as will an\u00a0increase in French nuclear generation<\/strong>\u00a0following unusually extensive maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe situation on the gas market is currently no longer so tense<\/a>,\u201d Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE, Germany\u2019s biggest utility, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did not expect any repeat of last year\u2019s record price spike, but also said \u201cone must not lull oneself into a false sense of security.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, analysts cautioned against leaving it too late to buy for future delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do not expect filling storage to be as costly next summer as it was this past year,\u201d Jacob Mandel, senior analyst at Aurora Energy Research, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat said, firms that rely on spot supply to fill storage,<\/strong> rather than hedge against future price jumps, will risk paying similar costs to last summer.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He estimated buying gas over the summer months would cost \u201c2-2.5 times more on a per unit basis than it had been pre-crisis\u201d and that European governments last year spent tens of billions of euros on supplies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was even when they had received significant levels of Russian gas on long-term contracts<\/strong> before the shutdown of the Nord Stream pipeline<\/a><\/strong> to Germany in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read rest at\u00a0Reuters<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reuters Graphics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Europe emerges from a mild winter with gas storage close to record levels, it must brace for another costly race to replenish its reserves on the international market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":245523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-776.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-11Nx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":242382,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=242382","url_meta":{"origin":245243,"position":0},"title":"5 charts explain gas & power price slump into 2023","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of this is straight forward supply and demand stuff. 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