By Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) – European gas prices will not revisit the record highs of 2022, when reduced Russian supplies and problems with French nuclear power drove fears of a shortage, the head of Germany’s biggest utility RWE told Reuters.
European gas prices scaled a record high of close to 350 euros per megawatt hour in August last year, but have since eased.
On Friday, they fell below 50 euros/MWh for the first time since August 2021.
“The situation on the gas market is currently no longer so tense, mainly because the winter was mild and French nuclear energy came back as planned,” Markus Krebber told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a conference this week.
“Will we see gas prices of 350 euros/MWh in Europe again? I don’t think so.”
Gas storage is still some 65% full after European countries are estimated to have spent many billions on buying in extra supplies to make up for lost Russian pipeline gas.
It has also accelerated programmes to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure.
Germany, which was among the countries most reliant on Russian gas, should have six floating LNG import terminals in operation by the end of 2023, having had none before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago.
The number of projects has come under criticism from environmental campaigners as being excessive, especially when the European Union is seeking to shift to a zero carbon economy.
But Krebber said they were a necessary precaution.
“It’s like insurance: better that way than being in a situation like 12 months ago again,” he said.
(Reporting by Nora Buli; editing by Barbara Lewis)
