European countries should guard against distorting the common market with billions in state support and must maintain a level playing field

Germany is rushing to minimize the impact of surging energy costs after Russia curtailed supplies of natural gas in retaliation for sanctions imposed after its invasion.

The UK government has said it is currently scouring the market for potential gas import deals as part of a new supply security push.

Gazprom PJSC said it has found a solution with Italian buyers to overcome the regulatory changes in Austria at the end of September that were preventing transit flows,

"If a decision is made to start deliveries through Nord Stream 2's line B, natural gas will be pumped into the pipeline after the integrity of the system has been checked and verified by supervisory authorities," it said.

The current gas crisis also casts longer-term uncertainty on the prospects for natural gas, especially in developing markets where its use was expected to rise at least in the medium term as it replaced other higher-emission fossil fuels.

The halt in deliveries to Italy is the latest disruption to Russian gas flows to Europe after supplies were already halted via the Yamal-Europe and Nord Stream pipelines earlier this year and deliveries via Ukraine sharply curtailed.

According to preliminary data, Gazprom produced 313.3 billion cubic meters of gas from January through September 2022. This is a decrease of 17.1 per cent (or 64.8 billion cubic meters) versus the same period of last year.

In a spokesman for the Kremlin last week where Europe was threatened about how difficult it would be to face the coming winter.

Benchmark futures declined as much as 5.9%. Ministers supported measures including a power-demand reduction goal and a profit grab from energy companies, and said more was likely this week.

The cap must cover all market revenues of producers and intermediaries participating in electricity wholesale markets, "regardless of the market timeframe in which the transaction takes place and of whether the electricity is traded bilaterally or in a centralized marketplace," the text said.

"On the price cap, there is nothing near a consensus," a diplomat from one EU country said.

The 27-nation bloc has already agreed on a voluntary target to cut gas consumption by 15% after Russia, its biggest supplier, cut shipments following the invasion of Ukraine. Still, more action is needed to contain the energy crunch that’s fueling inflation and risks recession.

Japan wants to avoid an energy crunch by offering financial support before winter, when heating demand is expected to increase. Spot LNG prices remain at high levels amid a risk of supply disruption from Russia given its war with Ukraine.

Benchmark prices declined as much as 6.4%, after rising 19% over the previous two days.