| june 2020 had the lowest ever prices. no one was complaining. in reality these high prices are due to a combination of factors: - countries reopened after covid at the same time across the planet leading to pressure from asia to europe - norway’s gas infrastructure works - cold winter and spring followed by a very hot summer which increased energy demand for heating and AC - lack of wind in northern Europe meaning burning more coal and gas - fire at a Russian gas processing plant in August reducing output from Russia to Europe. thus Russia couldn’t fulfil anything more than long-term contracts (no spot) - Russia’s Putin also has an interest to put pressure on Europeans in order to fast track Nord Stream 2. - Putin also wants Europeans to rely less on the free market and more on long term contracts, since those disincentivise investments in energy efficiency, diversification, the transition to cleaner energy sources. EU initiatives have also made Europe less susceptible to market manipulation by Gazprom than it used to be. these are big no-no’s for the Kremlin |