Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am ambivalent on the idea of a completely free market. Because while I believe it would self-regulate, in a vacuum (or anarchic system), a free market paired with a government means interference, nepotism, laws that favour monopolies and kills competition. So when people like Liz Truss enter 10 Downing Street and claim they want to enact "free market policies", the result is just utter economic upheaval and chaos t…
Economic upheaval in UK is not because 'free market policies', but because of Liz Truss's irresponsible fiscal policy during inflation times, which shows her (and her chancellor's) basic macroeconomic incompetence.
Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
171–180 of 278 posts
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#172"Gas costs €35 per mwh for delivery today, but €110 for a guaranteed shipment in December and €142 for one in February, once heaters turn on." The market is in contago, if you can find a way to store the gas you can make money buying today and delivering in Dec/Jan/Feb. You could even take delivery in December if you can find storage and sell in Feb and lock in a spread of $32 today. This is the reason you're seeing…
Isn't storage just exactly the problem? From what I understand every single possible storage tank in Europe is filled to the brim, and most if not all of the LNG ships are already there or en-route.
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#173I’ve never understood why people say things like this when referring to the operations started in 2022. Wasn’t what they did in Crimea in 2014 an invasion?
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
It takes money to make more money (especially in any appreciable amount) and that is not possible for everyone so the "You can get in on it too" argumentation is quite insulting to a lot of people as far as I am concerned.
The argument is that it is obviously never easy to make money in a transparent market - because SOMEONE with money would do it until the prices adapt. The difference between todays spot market and futures tells you something about the challenge to provide additional storage at scale.
But they are. Your premise is wrong. This just headlined the Financial times 2 days ago[1]. This and the last quarter have been record profits for energy companies and that's not even counting local profits, which are also at record heights.
1. https://www.ft.com/content/0d84255c-84ba-4462-b80a-859335285...
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everybody complains that energy companies manipulate prices to enrich themselves. For some reason though none of them are happy that they can use their inside knowledge to get rich...
Yep, I have friends who think the price at the pump is due to companies like Exxon and their "ability to price gouge". Like what? Yea dude Exxon is so powerful they let their stock freefall for 6 straight years post-2014
1. https://www.ft.com/content/0d84255c-84ba-4462-b80a-859335285...
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#176Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#177"Gas costs €35 per mwh for delivery today, but €110 for a guaranteed shipment in December and €142 for one in February, once heaters turn on." The market is in contago, if you can find a way to store the gas you can make money buying today and delivering in Dec/Jan/Feb. You could even take delivery in December if you can find storage and sell in Feb and lock in a spread of $32 today. This is the reason you're seeing…
Isn't storage just exactly the problem? From what I understand every single possible storage tank in Europe is filled to the brim, and most if not all of the LNG ships are already there or en-route.
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ukraine recently discovered it had large reserves of natural gas. Enough that it could potentially threaten Russia as Europe's main supplier. Many people suspect this was the primary reason Russia invaded.
> Many people suspect this was the primary reason Russia invaded. Regional energy control was possibly a factor but securing a defensible border was the over-arching goal of Russia’s last few wars in the region and Ukraine is no exception. Ukraine has the Carpathian Mountains, and allows access to Poland and Moldova to secure the Polish and Bessarabian gaps.
It seems so many want to run away from the straightforward situation which is that Putin wanted to take Ukraine or decapitate its government and make it more like Belarus, and he thought that he would be able to do it. Everything else is a sideshow at best, and Russian propaganda at worst.
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#179> Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it provided close to 40% of Europe’s gas. I’ve never understood why people say things like this when referring to the operations started in 2022. Wasn’t what they did in Crimea in 2014 an invasion?
And yet the swiftness of that move made that a fait accompli pretty quickly so people forget that.
A better line would be "before the 2022 invasion ..."
Re: Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting
#180> Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it provided close to 40% of Europe’s gas. I’ve never understood why people say things like this when referring to the operations started in 2022. Wasn’t what they did in Crimea in 2014 an invasion?
I can only speak for Germany, but the political discussions about Crimea and Eastern Ukraine did exist for years. However, the government and opposition parties were somewhat in Russias pockets - at the very least their election was dependend on many jobs in industries across different federal states which required cheap Russian gas. Also, the German East is still fairly connected to Russia on a cultural level and this is where you would find most German opponents against NATO these days. Communities directly affected include Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where Nord Stream 2 is landing as well as Schwedt/Oder with the decades old PCK oil refinery that is specialized to process Russian oil (not all oil is the same) and supplied most of the German North East with fuel.
Russia has certainly funded a lot of online trolling, political actors (AfD) and disinformation to achieve their goals. For example, they tried to actively prevent Germans from switching to American LNG / fracking gas. German Angst [1] is a pretty fertile ground for disinformation. It's also what drives opposition against nuclear power, more so than the more reasonable arguments regarding economics and prices.
Regarding gas, it's mostly about heat generation for industry and NOT electricity where it is a minor player [2]. Natural gas is mostly used for manufacturing and to a lesser scale for quick up/down scaling of electricity generation as support to the baseline.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/germans-and-why-they-worry-about-germa...