Europe’s Hypocritical Gas Policy Isn’t Sustainable
The EU can’t keep funding Russia’s war by paying for energy supplies.
Flaming hypocrisy.
Photographer: ROBERT GILHOOLYEuropeans enduring an unseasonal April cold snap may be forgiven for thinking winter is back. But for the natural gas market, summer has arrived. April 1 marked the start of a new year in the energy calendar, moving the focus to injecting enough gas into storage during the coming low-demand months in preparation for next winter. It’s a race Europe cannot afford to lose, but one it will struggle to win following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For the 2022-23 winter, the European Union has set itself a target of filling its underground gas storage to 80% of capacity by October. That may be possible, but only at a huge political — and moral — cost: The EU will have to continue buying as much Russian gas as it does now, paying Vladimir Putin about $200 million per day, or about $36 billion for the next six months.