EUROPEAN GAS PRICES UP: $140 BLN

BLOOMBERG - Sept 14, 2022 - Natural gas prices in Europe jumped after the European Commission unveiled an energy intervention plan that its president said could raise more than 140 billion euros ($140 billion) for consumers by capping revenues from low-cost producers.

Benchmark futures rose as much as 6.9%, a day after closing 4.2% higher. Authorities are designing measures designed to rein in an unprecedented energy crisis that has fueled inflation, hurt industry and left nations on the brink of a recession.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, proposed a cap on the revenues of companies that produce electricity at low costs -- rather than expensive gas. It’s also proposing a temporary levy on fossil-fuel producers.

“In our social market economy, profits are good,” President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday. “But in these times it is wrong to receive extraordinary record profits benefiting from war and on the back of consumers.”

The measures are just some of the radical steps von der Leyen is setting out to stem the energy crisis, capping prices and reducing demand. The others include creating a hydrogen bank and working with regulators to ease liquidity problems in power markets.

The Commission also is expected to set a mandatory goal of lowering demand during selected peak hours by 5%, according to the latest draft seen by Bloomberg.

The bloc also plans to work out a price index for imports of liquefied natural gas, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said Tuesday. That may address soaring gas costs, while a previously considered price cap won’t be included -- at least for now -- amid concerns that it could discourage supplies to Europe, according to the draft.

LNG has been key to replacing missing Russian pipeline gas supplies and helping Europe to fill storage sites before winter. But there is no regional price on imports of the super-chilled fuel. The benchmark European price -- linked to the Title Transfer Hub in the Netherlands -- is a pipeline index and “no longer properly reflects the real supply and demand of the market,” Simson told members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

There is uncertainty on which measures will be agreed to by member states, which are divided and have to sign off on the plans. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, called another emergency meeting for Sept. 30, with the goal of reaching a deal before the winter heating season starts.

“Months of geopolitical wrangling have left the European gas market whiplashed,” Zongqiang Luo, senior analyst at Rystad Energy AS, said in a note. “The gas market is broken -– but how it should be supported or fixed is an ongoing conversation with no clear resolution in sight.”

Front-month Dutch gas futures traded 5.5% higher at 209.45 euros per megawatt-hour by 10:49 a.m. in Amsterdam.

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