BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.17. Gas prices in Europe have dropped below the levels before the war in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during the discussions on Mastering New Energy Economics at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trend reports.
“A year ago, Europe had a massive dependence on Russian fossil fuels built over decades. It made us vulnerable to supply squeezes, price hikes. In less than a year Europe has overcome this dependence. We have replaced 80 percent of Russian pipeline gas. In parallel, we’ve filled our storages, of course, we’ve reduced our demand by more than 20 percent in the period from August to November and through collective effort, we brought down gas prices quicker than anyone expected. From its peak in August when it was 350 euros per megawatt-hour, it is now dropped by 80 percent by this month and that is below the levels of before the Ukraine war,” she said.
Exchange prices for gas in Europe fell below $600 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since the end of August 2021, according to the data of ICE. Today, February futures for natural gas at the TTF hub in the Netherlands fell to 53.5 euros per MWh, or about $590 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Ursula von der Leyen went on to that climate change already comes with a huge cost.
“We have no time to lose in the transition to clean economy. Net zero transformation is already causing huge industrial, economic and geopolitical shift. It is reshaping the nature of our industry, but we’re on the brink of something far greater. In less than three decades we want to reach net zero, we have to. But the road to net zero means developing and using a whole range of new clean technologies across our economy. Next decades will see the greatest industrial transformation of our times,” she added.
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