Latest news with #REPowerEU
Canada News.Net
9 hours ago
- Business
- Canada News.Net
European gas reserves sink below normal Bloomberg
Heat waves in the EU and Asia have driven consumption up and fueled competition for global shipments, the outlet has stated Europe's natural gas inventories are particularly low for this time of year, Bloomberg has reported, citing rising demand for air conditioning amid a regional heatwave. Underground storage sites are currently around 62% full, the outlet stated, while typically reserves reach around 80% by early summer, helping ensure a robust buffer ahead of the winter heating season. Extreme heat in Asia has also caused fuel shipments to be diverted away from Europe, as buyers worldwide compete for limited supplies. As a result, European natural gas futures have hovered near a two-week high, meaning "the continent needs to pay up to keep supply coming," the outlet wrote. Despite the trend, the EU may still be able to top up its gas inventories to about 80% by the end of the summer, the outlet quoted a note by Goldman Sachs as saying. The EU imports nearly 90% of its natural gas, with Russia still accounting for a significant share in the supply despite sanctions. In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to phase out all Russian oil and gas imports by the end of 2027, as part of the EU's REPowerEU roadmap, which aims to eliminate the bloc's dependence on fossil fuels from the country and shift to renewable sources. The plan has drawn criticism from landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, which have relied heavily on Russia's pipeline gas. Bratislava blocked the EU's 18th sanctions package, targeting Russia's energy and financial sectors, citing risks of shortages and rising prices. Budapest has joined the veto, and is pressuring the block to make concessions related to energy and broader RepowerEU rules. Moscow has argued that the EU restrictions are self-defeating, causing surging energy prices and weakening the bloc's economy. Since 2022, Germany, the bloc's largest economy, has fallen into recession, while growth across the EU has stalled.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
European gas reserves sink below normal
Europe's natural gas inventories are particularly low for this time of year, Bloomberg has reported, citing rising demand for air conditioning amid a regional heatwave. Underground storage sites are currently around 62% full, the outlet stated, while typically reserves reach around 80% by early summer, helping ensure a robust buffer ahead of the winter heating season. Extreme heat in Asia has also caused fuel shipments to be diverted away from Europe, as buyers worldwide compete for limited supplies. As a result, European natural gas futures have hovered near a two-week high, meaning 'the continent needs to pay up to keep supply coming,' the outlet wrote. Despite the trend, the EU may still be able to top up its gas inventories to about 80% by the end of the summer, the outlet quoted a note by Goldman Sachs as saying. The EU imports nearly 90% of its natural gas, with Russia still accounting for a significant share in the supply despite sanctions. In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to phase out all Russian oil and gas imports by the end of 2027, as part of the EU's REPowerEU roadmap, which aims to eliminate the bloc's dependence on fossil fuels from the country and shift to renewable sources. The plan has drawn criticism from landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, which have relied heavily on Russia's pipeline gas. Bratislava blocked the EU's 18th sanctions package, targeting Russia's energy and financial sectors, citing risks of shortages and rising prices. Budapest has joined the veto, and is pressuring the block to make concessions related to energy and broader RepowerEU rules. Moscow has argued that the EU restrictions are self-defeating, causing surging energy prices and weakening the bloc's economy. Since 2022, Germany, the bloc's largest economy, has fallen into recession, while growth across the EU has stalled.
Gulf Insider
08-07-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Lights Out, Europe: The Cost Of Brussels' Energy Fantasy
Spain's leading energy companies – Iberdrola, Endesa, and EDP – remain stunned. After the nationwide blackout that cut power across Spain on April 28, the government has yet to provide a clear explanation or take technical responsibility… The companies, represented by the employers' association Aelec, have denounced 'surprising omissions' in the official investigation. They demand that the extreme voltage spikes recorded in the days leading up to the collapse be included in the analysis. They have criticized the preliminary report from ENTSO-E—the European network of electricity operators—for claiming that 'the system was operating normally' just seconds before the failure. Meanwhile, severe voltage swings were recorded, going beyond safety limits and triggering automatic shutdowns of high-voltage substations and key refineries. This episode is far more than an isolated incident. It is a metaphor for the erratic direction taken by the European Union's energy policy. In the name of climate change, Brussels has embarked on a radical overhaul of its energy model driven not by technical or economic realities, but by an ideological agenda imposed by political and bureaucratic elites. What was marketed as a smooth transition toward renewable energy has turned into a forced green agenda, with no viable alternatives and little regard for its impact on competitiveness, system stability, or citizens' well-being. At the root of this drift lies the REPowerEU plan, launched after the start of the war in Ukraine with the stated aim of 'fully decoupling' Europe from Russian energy. What initially appeared to be a justified geostrategic measure quickly became, in the hands of the European Commission, a pretext to push through renewable energies at any cost. This led to a rushed and uneven transition, with citizens and businesses footing the bill. This leap into the void has destabilized key sectors such as agriculture, transport, and industry, forcing them to absorb rising costs without receiving real technological upgrades. Countries like Germany, which shut down their nuclear plants out of political conviction, have now had to reopen coal-fired stations in a contradictory reversal. Meanwhile, state propaganda continues to promote green energy self-sufficiency, while households face record electricity bills and companies lose competitiveness. The structural failures of the European power grid are becoming increasingly evident. The continental grid was designed for stable and predictable hydro, gas, and nuclear sources. The mass introduction of intermittent sources like wind and solar makes imbalances difficult to manage: without wind or sun, generation collapses; with too much, the grid becomes dangerously overloaded. On April 28th, the Iberian Peninsula experienced those consequences firsthand. Abnormal voltage levels were detected in several substations throughout the morning. To grasp the gravity: a 'voltage oscillation' involves a sudden and significant fluctuation in the grid's voltage, which can damage equipment, trigger automatic disconnections, or, in extreme cases, cause a total blackout. At the Lancha substation, voltage reached nearly 250 kV on a line rated for 220. Another line, rated at 400 kV, surpassed 470 kV just before the collapse. According to Aelec, these anomalies began as early as 10:00 a.m. While a sudden drop of 2,200 MW in generation has been cited as the trigger, the system is theoretically built to withstand a loss of up to 3,000 MW without shutting down. This was not a coincidental failure—it was a built-in weakness. Beyond technical and political issues, the forced energy transition takes a human toll. European households are paying more for electricity, hitting middle- and lower-income families especially hard. Electrification of transport, promoted without adequate foresight, is raising the cost of mobility due to a lack of reliable charging infrastructure. Farmers and truckers, already squeezed by unmanageable climate regulations, face growing expenses while being pressured to make investments they cannot afford. Moreover, blackouts are no minor issue: their impact ranges from multimillion-euro industrial losses to the paralysis of hospitals, schools, and transport networks. In Spain, the outage even cost five people their lives. An energy model that cannot ensure a steady supply threatens the economy and public safety. European industry, particularly in the central and southern parts of the continent, is already bearing the brunt. Unable to compete with American or Asian energy prices, many companies are relocating production or shutting down. Paradoxically, even sectors the green agenda promotes, such as electric vehicles, are faltering. Once-dominant car industries in Germany and France are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive global market. While Europe imposes ideological standards, China manufactures more, better, and cheaper. Deindustrialization is no longer a threat—it's a fact. Notably, some factions on the Left even embrace 'degrowth'—deliberate economic decline—as a desirable path. Worse still, despite all these sacrifices, Europe continues to import Russian energy—now via third countries—and remains vulnerable to geopolitical pressure. The promise of energy independence often rings hollow. The Green Deal has morphed from a promise of modernization into a political myth: a story no longer grounded in reality, propped up by propaganda that refuses to confront its contradictions. The public, increasingly aware of the real costs, is beginning to push back. The farmers' resistance in the Netherlands gave rise to a political party now part of the ruling coalition. In other countries, protests and citizen discontent are multiplying. And this is only the beginning. This very week, farmers returned to Brussels to protest the suffocating policies they face. An energy transition is not inherently harmful, but cannot be imposed dogmatically. It requires realism, technological pluralism, gradual implementation, and a willingness to adopt what works. Nuclear, hydro, and natural gas must be part of the energy mix while green technologies mature. Sustainability will not be achieved by denying physics or punishing citizens, but by integrating every available tool with a long-term vision. What happened in Spain is a symptom, not an accident. Europe's current energy model is not equipped to operate under the conditions imposed by Brussels. There is an urgent need to rethink energy policy—not through ideology, but through engineering, economics, and common sense. If the energy transition is to be our path forward, let it be pursued with caution, technological plurality, and respect for the system's real limitations. Europe cannot afford to stumble in the dark in the name of a green light; it still does not know how to switch on.
Euractiv
03-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
How close is the EU to quitting Russian energy?
Halfway into the third year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU has yet to cut the flow of fossil fuel cash to Moscow, casting doubts on its promise to end its addiction to Russian energy by 2027. Despite 17 sanction packages and repeated vows to end reliance on Kremlin-linked hydrocarbons, Russian oil, gas, and LNG still flow into Europe's economy. The bloc imports even uranium, as five EU countries (Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria) still operate Russian-designed VVER nuclear reactors. While this dependency is partially fuelled by legacy infrastructure, it is political: Slovakia and Hungary – both close to Moscow – are blocking the bloc's 18th sanctions package to force the Commission to review its 2027 phase-out plan. The facts In 2024, the EU spent an estimated €21.9 billion on Russian fossil fuels imports – just 1% less than the previous year. To put that into perspective: the amount exceeds the €18.7 billion in financial aid the EU provided to Ukraine in the same year. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), crude oil revenues only dropped by 6% year-on-year, or about €2.6 billion – largely because Russia has shifted to using the so-called 'shadow fleet' to get around the restrictions. In the third year of the invasion, 61% of Russia's seaborne oil exports – worth €83 billion – were moved using 558 of these ships. The Commission's latest sanctions proposal would lower the price cap on seaborne Russian crude to $45 per barrel and go after the shadow fleet. The plan Under its REPowerEU roadmap, the Commission laid out a timeline to cut Russian energy ties by 2027. No new gas contracts should be signed from early 2026, and even short-term deals must end by mid-2026. Long-term agreements covering oil, gas and LNG would be phased out entirely by 2027. A carve-out exists for landlocked EU countries still bound by legacy pipeline contracts – they will have until the end of 2027 to comply. Brussels also plans further restrictions targeting Russian uranium and other nuclear imports. Most Russian pipeline gas has already been cut off, with only the TurkStream line continuing to supply the bloc with Russian gas, and talks have been held to expand its capacity . In practice, however, due to the shadow fleet , the flow of Russian LNG to the EU has been steady. The concerns Energy security is often seen as a 'trilemma': balancing reliable supply, environmental protection, and affordability. For EU countries still hooked on Russian fossil fuels, cost is a main concern, and national perspectives differ widely. Hungary and Slovakia argue that maintaining reliance on Russian energy keeps prices low. Germany, by contrast, has largely shifted its gas supply away from Russia toward Norway, and France has secured a 27-year deal for natural gas with Qatar. As for oil, the EU's best bets might be the US and Libya. If the EU can successfully secure alternative suppliers and end the political deadlock on sanctions, it could cut Russia's fossil fuel export revenues by €51 billion a year, data shows. This would slash about 22% of its total earnings, moving it closer to gaining its independence from the Kremlin. (mm)
Euractiv
01-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
Copenhagen eyes climate action as it kicks off Council presidency
Denmark is launching its mandate presiding over the Council of the European Union and the agenda is now fixed for a meeting of climate and environment ministers set for 10 July. The discussion is set to take place shortly after a presentation of the bloc's new emission reduction target running to 2040 which is due to land 2 July. In addition to future climate targets, the work to be done in the build up to November's United Nations climate change conference in Brazil is another topic on the agenda of the ministerial while plastic pollution will also feature. Shortly after Brussels takes a summer break, the Danes will then preside over a new high-level meeting on energy topics, planned for the 4 and 5 of September, and an official Council meeting scheduled for 20 October. Concluding negotiations on the REPowerEU proposal, the EU's plan to increase the share of renewables in its overall energy consumption, is among Denmark's top priorities, notably to phase out the supply of Russian gas. Advancing work to lower energy prices is another key priority for the Danish presidency, which aims to start talks on the energy infrastructure framework, strengthened grid development and streamlined procedures for energy deployment. (jp)
