EU cuts gas consumption by 20% in last four months
The bloc’s statistics body said on Tuesday that EU countries have cut the amount of natural gas they consume by 20% over the past four months to adapt to energy scarcity.
Overall, this is higher than the voluntary 15% target that European Union member states signed in August.
It highlights the bloc’s efforts to reduce energy demand as the bloc copes with significantly reduced supply from Russia, which turned off its gas faucet in retaliation for EU sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Eurostat says Finland leads the way with a 53% drop in gas consumption between August and November, compared with average consumption for that period from 2017 to 2021.
All but two EU countries showed declines, with major economies Germany and France cutting their gas use by 25% and 20% respectively during that period.
Malta and Slovakia showed gas consumption increases of less than 10% in those four months. Cyprus is the only EU country that does not use nature Air.
The EU on Monday agreed on gas hat price that will happen if gas costs soar to historic highs reached in August, as states scramble to fill stockpiles before winter.
After months of controversy, the price cap was set at 180 euros per megawatt-hour for futures contracts — almost half of the spike in August, when it hit nearly 340 euros.
On Tuesday, the European benchmark for gas futures traded around 107 euros per megawatt hour.
The protections imposed on the price cap are in response to concerns by Germany and the European Commission that the ceiling could scare off gas suppliers and force them to sell in European markets. Asia is more beneficial.
The cap can be activated only if it breaches the threshold for three consecutive days and then only if it is 35 euros above the global price paid for liquefied natural gas.
The Commission also has the power to suspend the price cap mechanism if it causes supply problems.
The Kremlin has criticized the EU’s price cap as a “violation of market price regulations”.
© 2022 AFP
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