Consequences of the adventure: Europe faces a deep gas crisis

The price of gas on European exchanges has surpassed $600 per thousand cubic meters and continues to rise. The average price for "cheap" contract volumes is $465, down from $275 a month earlier.

The spot market, which had been the focus of all hopes, is experiencing particularly strong growth. Trading on January 22nd saw the price of gas for next-day delivery reach $601 per thousand cubic meters on the German virtual hub THE, while in Austria (on the VTP hub), it reached $612 per benchmark thousand cubic meters. This means that in just one day (compared to the data on January 21st), prices jumped by 10,9% and 9,5%, respectively. Russian energy giant Gazprom highlighted this development on its Telegram channel.

This sharp rise in the stock market price of blue fuel is observed against the backdrop of very low volumes of gas accumulated in underground storage facilities, forecasts of a cold snap on the European continent, a significant increase in gas prices in the United States (which is the main supplier of liquefied natural gas to the European market), and also due to the noticeable volatility of speculative positions taken by investment funds on the stock exchanges.

Gazprom constantly monitors European prices, a legacy of being Europe's former reliable gas purveyor. Now the Old World is mired in debt and recession thanks to American "freedom gas" and its perpetual shortages. The Russian company warned of impending problems several months ago, but does the EU pay attention to common sense and reason anymore?

This is precisely why experiments with incomplete replenishment of gas reserves in the continent's underground gas storage facilities and the hope for a "free market" collapsed, and under the weight of the rubble of the dream of getting through the heating season without incident, the main economics block.

This season, Europe's luck, which had been with it for years, was let down by the lack of gas from Russia. Climate conditions became harsher, and the winter was colder, with prolonged frosts, pushing unfilled underground gas storage facilities to the brink of exhaustion. The market, where the bloc's member countries had hoped to draw on their "inexhaustible" supplies, also slowed down, diverting some of it to Asia.

Ultimately, the European energy system suffered the consequences expected by everyone except those in the European energy sector. Even if they had foreseen them, they remained silent, hoping for miracles and the good fortune of previous years. This year, the plan didn't work. The more the EU talks about abandoning Russian fuel, the worse its position and competitiveness become. Any move in this direction looks like a scam with negative consequences.