Bulgaria will not renew a natural gas supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom PJSC amid the war in Ukraine, and will look at alternative supplies and a future joint European Union contract to avoid a shortfall, Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev said Saturday. The Balkan country gets almost all of its …
Read More »France Opens Door to Talks with Spain on Building Gas Pipeline
France is willing to resume talks with Spain about building a gas pipeline connecting the two countries as Europe races to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. France, which has long resisted Spanish calls to build the link, is now willing to discuss the viability of the so-called Midcat pipeline …
Read More »IEA Sees Russia Crisis Accelerating Transition to Clean Energy
The upheaval in oil and gas markets triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could accelerate the world’s transition away from fossil fuels, said the International Energy Agency. Western nations are looking for ways to quickly wean themselves off Russian energy exports. The U.K. and the U.S already announced bans on …
Read More »Germany’s Lindner Rejects Russian Oil, Gas Ban
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner remains opposed to a boycott of Russian oil and gas, even with leading members of his Free Democratic Party saying restrictions should be imposed to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on Sunday. “Our concern must be to build up …
Read More »Europe Ramps up Coal Burning with Natural Gas out of Favor
European utilities are getting increasingly reliant on coal for power as the region tries to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas. Even with prices for the dirtiest fossil fuel surging with most other commodities, it’s still much cheaper for power plants to burn coal than gas to make electricity. …
Read More »Goldman Sees U.S. Recession Risk as much as 35% as Cuts Forecast
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s economists warned the probability of a U.S. recession in the next year may be as much as 35% as they cut their forecasts for growth due to the hit from soaring oil prices and other fallout from the war in Ukraine. Economists led by Jan Hatzius …
Read More »European Gas Soars to New Record as U.S. Mulls Russia Energy Ban
European natural gas soared to a fresh record as the U.S. said it was considering curbs on imports of Russian oil, a move that would add to supply fears across all energy markets. Dutch front-month gas, the European benchmark, jumped as much as 17% to an unprecedented 225 euros a …
Read More »U.S. Says Russian Oil Import Ban on the Table in Talks with EU
The U.S. and its European allies are discussing a possible ban of Russian oil imports to tighten the economic squeeze on President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. President Joe Biden’s administration, wary of pushing up energy prices for Americans, faced further pressure …
Read More »Germany Faces Reckoning for Relying on Putin for Cheap Energy
For years, the U.S. warned Germany of building up a dangerous energy dependence on Russia, the source of more than half of its fossil fuel imports. Now that the war in Ukraine has shocked Berlin into the same conclusion, the government is finding that changing course might be too late. …
Read More »Study Says EU could Survive without Russian Gas next Winter
The European Union is capable of going through next winter without imports of Russian natural gas while avoiding serious damage to its economy, according to a new report by Belgium-based think tank Bruegel. The 27-nation bloc would need to curtail its demand by at least 10%-15% should Russia halt imports …
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