Industry and Energy

Home page

Industry and Energy

Novak: Price of $ 4,000 per thousand cubic meters of gas in Europe is not the limit

Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

23 March 2022 14:36 (UTC +04:00)

The price of gas in the European Union, which abandoned Nord Stream 2 to its own detriment, reached $4,000 per thousand cubic meters, which is not the limit since there are risks of not filling underground gas storage facilities (UGS), the ban on the launch of the gas pipeline is absurd and shows a misunderstanding of energy balances, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, APA-Economics reports citing Russian press.

“At the same time, despite all the difficulties, in the EU, where there is also a rise in prices and a shortage of energy resources, under pressure from the United States, they refused to commission the already built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to the detriment of European consumers. As a result, over the past year, the price of electricity in Europe increased 10 times, for gas – 5 times,” he said during a government hour in the State Duma on the topic “About topical issues in the development of the fuel and energy complex of the Russian Federation.”

“And prices for oil products, for example, in Germany, have risen by up to 40%. The price of gas at some points … reached up to $ 4,000 per thousand cubic meters. And this is actually not the limit,” the Deputy Prime Minister continued.

Novak added that currently, the volume of gas in underground gas storage facilities is 26%, while last year it was 30.6%. And if last year Europe was unable to pump enough gas into its UGS facilities in the summer, this year the risks of not filling UGS facilities are even higher, he stressed.

“The ban on the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 is an absolute absurdity and a misunderstanding of energy balances. I have already warned that European consumers will face even greater price increases. Once again I want to emphasize that the complete incompetence of European responsible persons due to ill-conceived policy and lack of strategic planning. As in the case of the United States, Russia has nothing to do with this situation, did not contribute in any way to a decrease in energy supplies,” Novak added.