2. Most traders will cautiously concede that Europe’s fortunes have improved.
But a heavy note of caution still hangs in the air. Daring to believe that the energy crisis has somehow been resolved is dangerous given the scale of the remaining challenge.
3. Europe could quickly burn through its gas reserves, potentially leading to extreme tightness after Christmas.
Gas at around €115 per MWh is still equivalent to almost $180 a barrel in oil terms.
Contracts in December and January are above $230 a barrel equivalent.
4.
5. Weather’s dominance over the EU gas market means he’s not quite prepared to say the worst is definitely over.
However, if the winter is mild, then Germany, EU biggest economy, could end the season with its storage facilities almost half full.
6. But if it is just slightly colder than normal, then “German gas inventories would be virtually depleted by end-March, possibly requiring late winter rationing or supply cuts”.
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From @FT
Draft measures by EU Commission stop short of widescale overhaul of EU electricity market
Core is countries’ support to long-term “power purchase agreements” by offering financial guarantees so that smaller companies can buy into such contracts. on.ft.com/3ZpPbty
2. It has also set out draft measures that allow grid operators to encourage cuts to consumption at peak times and requirements for EU capitals to set demand reduction and electricity storage targets.
3. Member states would be allowed to intervene in the market if Brussels declared a regional or “union-wide” price crisis, where rates are substantially above 5-year average or “sharp increases in electricity retail prices . . . are expected to continue for at least 6 months”.
Notre pays consomme de l’électricité sans drame, dans une crise XXL, malgré la panne de notre nucléaire, parce que nos voisins (Allemagne, Belgique, Espagne) ne chipotent pas & envoient tout ce que nous demandons
Le ‘grand public’ ne le sait pas
Est-ce une preuve que c’est faux?
8 months after Russian invasion of Ukraine, EU remains woefully divided on energy-policy response.
At latest summit, October 20-21, leaders spent hours arguing with each other. project-syndicate.org/commentary/eur…
2. In the end, they issued a communiqué acknowledging that “in face of Russia’s weaponization of energy, EU will remain united to protect its citizens & businesses and take necessary measures as a matter of urgency.”
3. But the only significant decision they had reached was to step up joint gas purchases – and even that came with crippling caveats…
In richer nations, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine & risk of recession has thrown efforts to shift away from fossil fuels into reverse.
Some climate finance is also heading in the wrong direction. on.ft.com/3U1ZJww
2. Cross-border climate investments that boomed in 2021 are now on track to decline.
Blended finance deals that use public funds to make green investments more attractive to private investors have nosedived.
As support for shareholder climate resolutions at oil groups BP & Shell.
3. The list goes on. So what grounds are there for optimism?
One big reason: governments and regulators that have been missing in climate action are finally getting serious, and taking unprecedented steps that would have been unthinkable even a year ago.
2. Viggest question about Li Qiang, 63, is whether he will now merely aid & abet Xi’s instincts & instructions, which have crushed the animal spirits of world 2nd-largest economy…
3. … Or whether he will use the trust Xi has in him — and his experience as a pro-business, seemingly reform-minded regional leader — to mitigate the effects of the president’s most controversial policies. …