Julian Lee, Columnist

Welcome to Europe’s Dark, Cold Winter: Elements by Julian Lee

Replenishing storage and reducing demand still may not be enough.

August 17, 2022 at 11:16 AM UTC

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Previously, he was a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

Cooling towers release vapor at the Jaenschwalde lignite coal-fired power plant in Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

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Hi, I’m Julian Lee with today’s edition of Elements, Bloomberg’s new energy and commodities newsletter. We bring you a daily mix of commentary from Bloomberg Opinion writers and the best of our market-leading news coverage. We hope you’re enjoying it, and if you haven’t yet signed up to get it direct into your inbox, you can do that here.

Germany’s gas storage, the biggest in Europe, is on track to be filled to 80% of capacity by Monday if current injection rates are maintained. A target of 95% full by November looks achievable. That ought to be good news for the continent’s residents and industries, but it’s far too early to call an end to Europe’s fears of a cold, dark winter plagued by blackouts.