European Gas Prices Soar Amid Post Pandemic Recovery

As European countries recover from COVID and lockdown restrictions are being lifted, European countries now face a new problem: a shortage of natural gas. Due to climate change, many countries around the world are moving towards cleaner energy sources such as natural gas. However as countries come out of lockdown, they are faced with the fact that there is not enough natural gas for the post pandemic recovery. 

The gas crisis facing Western Europe is alarming. According to Bloomberg.com, “Nations are more reliant than ever on natural gas to heat homes and power industries amid efforts to quit coal and increase the use of cleaner energy sources.” The nations of Western Europe are reliant on exporters to give them natural gas such as Russia. Now as the energy crisis comes into full swing, Russian pipelines move to keep more gas home. According to Bloomberg.com, “Countries are trying to outbid one another for supplies as exporters such as Russia move to keep more natural gas home.” Bloomberg.com also states that this crisis will get much worse once the temperature drops.

Many people, however, believe that Russia isn’t pulling gas away from Europe to make sure they have enough gas but rather pulling away gas for political purposes. Many people also noted how in the past Russia has done the same thing: they stopped exporting natural gas to countries that they didn’t like.

According to the New York Times, “The Kremlin has a track record of using gas politically. In the 2000s, Russia twice cut supplies to a Western-leaning government in Ukraine, causing widespread shortages throughout Eastern Europe and leaving people shivering in unheated apartments in mid-January.” The Russian government also stated that they could help the west with their gas crisis if German and EU regulators approve the use of a new undersea pipeline. This would bypass Eastern European countries like Poland and Ukraine and link straight to Germany. However critics have stated that this pipeline will allow the Russians to “strengthen the Kremlin’s energy leverage in Eastern Europe” the New York Times states.

As the people of Western Europe need more and more natural gas, the Russians continue to pull away the gas as winter approaches. As winter approaches, the prospect of a house without power in the winter becomes all too clear for many people in Western Europe. According to Bloomberg.com, “Energy supplies in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe may become more unreliable this winter.”