Germany suffered the most among EU member states from the Russian supply curtailments, with a number of buyers forced to buy expensive gas on the open market to make up for the Russian shortfall.

Энергетический сектор по-прежнему сталкивается с новыми вызовами, и нынешняя геополитическая ситуация негативно сказывается на мировых энергетических рынках.

Prior to the sanctions, between October 2021 and September 2022, diesel imports from Russia made up 53% of Northwest Europe’s seaborne imports.

The EU banned imports of Russian oil products from Feb. 5, two months after imposing restrictions on seaborne crude shipments from the country.

Gas markets are in “better shape than many expected one year ago,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. “But the reality is that winter 2023-2024 is likely to be the real test.”

Benchmark futures are now trading just above €50, near the lowest levels since September 2021.

OPEC+ is a 23-country bloc of oil producing countries co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia. It agreed in October to slash quotas by 2 million b/d from November until the end of 2023.

Ukraine, whose largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, has been under Russian military control since early March 2022, has been calling for the sanctions to include the nuclear energy sector.

"National consultations have clearly shown that the Hungarians do not want sanctions, because they will not help Ukraine, they will not bring Russia to its knees and will only cause terrible damage to Europe and Hungary," Orban stressed. He believes the results of the national consultations will be a significant help in his discussions with the leadership of the EU and other countries.

The cold spell next week signals the possibility of heavier withdrawals from the region’s gas storage sites, though inventories are still almost 73% full and well above average levels of the last five years.

Benchmark futures fell as much as 3.5%. While the continent’s gas inventories dropped last week amid a cold spell, they are still far above historic averages.

Государство в настоящее время уделяет большое внимание обеспечению кибербезопасности, эта задача заложена в Энергетическую стратегию РФ до 2035 года.

Dutch front-month futures, were 0.2% lower at €66.80 a megawatt-hour by 8:58 a.m. in Amsterdam, after rising as much as 3.1% earlier.

Dutch front-month futures, Europe’s gas benchmark, were 2.8% lower at €59 a megawatt-hour by 8:29 a.m. in Amsterdam.

The region’s storage sites are around 81% full, some 20 percentage points above the five-year average. That’s providing confidence that Europe will end the winter with inventories over 50% and “more than enough gas to completely replenish its storage by the start of next winter,”