Seeing its exports continually falling, the Russian gas giant Gazprom warns Europeans and predicts that the price of gas could increase by another 60% this winter.

Gazprom said on Tuesday that gas prices in Europe could rise by 60% to exceed $4,000 (3,946.94 euros) per 1,000 cubic meters this winter as the Russian energy giant’s exports and production fell with the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for the war in Ukraine.

“Spot gas prices in Europe have reached $2,500 (per 1,000 cubic meters). Conservative estimates suggest that if this trend continues, prices will exceed $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters this winter,” Gazprom said.

Gas prices are not going to return to their 2021 level anytime soon
Dutch wholesale gas prices hit highs of nearly 335 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) in the spring. Since then, they have fallen to around 226 euros per MWh on Tuesday but remain well above their level of a year ago when they were around 46 euros per MWh.

Kyiv has closed one of Gazprom’s export routes to Europe, which has reduced its supplies via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to just 20% of its capacity.

Gazprom said on Tuesday that gas prices in Europe could rise by 60% to exceed $4,000 (3,946.94 euros) per 1,000 cubic meters this winter as the Russian energy giant’s exports and production fell with the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for the war in Ukraine.

“Spot gas prices in Europe have reached $2,500 (per 1,000 cubic meters). Conservative estimates suggest that if this trend continues, prices will exceed $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters this winter,” Gazprom said.

Gas prices are not going to return to their 2021 level anytime soon
Dutch wholesale gas prices hit highs of nearly 335 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) in the spring. Since then, they have fallen to around 226 euros per MWh on Tuesday but remain well above their level of a year ago when they were around 46 euros per MWh.

Kyiv has closed one of Gazprom’s export routes to Europe, which has reduced its supplies via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to just 20% of its capacity.

In Germany, a tax of 480 euros per household on gas

Between January 1 and August 15, Gazprom’s exports fell 36.2% to 78.5 billion cubic meters and the group’s production fell 13.2% to 274.8 billion cubic meters compared to the previous year, the group said in a press release.

Gas pipeline projects on French territory
Taking up an idea raised by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pleaded on Tuesday in favor of the construction of a gas pipeline linking the Iberian Peninsula to central Europe through France, likely to help reduce the dependence on Russian gas.

The project for a gas pipeline crossing the Pyrenees “is something that the Spanish government has been asking for and asking from Europe for a long time”, the socialist leader told the press during a visit to the island of La Palma, in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands.

Last week, Olaf Scholz estimated that an interconnection between the Iberian Peninsula and Central Europe via France was “dramatically” lacking in Europe. Such a gas pipeline “would now greatly contribute to relieving and relaxing the supply situation”, said the German Chancellor, whose country is one of the EU members most dependent on Russian gas imports.