Gas crisis – Who is to blame?

The UK has witnessed really volatile price movements this week, from the biggest daily prices increase to the biggest daily decrease in history.

Gas flows via the ‘Yamal’ pipeline which transports Russian Gas to Europe actually changed direction this week taking gas away from Europe which pushed prices higher.

Gas pipelines in Europe - December 2021

But due to the increase in European prices, US LNG gas tankers have started to redirect shipments to Europe rather than Asia which has driven prices lower.

Gas and Power prices continue to sit near unprecedented highs, with the key driver being weak European gas supplies. As such, we’re continuously monitoring Russian gas flows and the associated  politics to advise our customers on the risks/opportunities when purchasing their energy.

UK gas by season 2021.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Germany was reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine rather than relieving an overheated market, adding Moscow was not to blame for Europe’s gas price crisis. For more information on this read the following @Reuters article.

Russia’s Putin lays Europe gas price crisis blame on Germany https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russian-gas-flows-via-yamal-europe-pipeline-reversed-3rd-day-2021-12-23/

To see a summary of gas and electricity market prices and drivers, read our weekly energy market reports