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Europe’s crippling energy crisis presages trouble for the rest of the world

europe-s-crippling-energy-crisis-presages-trouble-for-the-rest-of-the-world

Natural gas prices have soared by almost 500% in 2021 and with another winter just around the corner gas is trading at near-record values. While European countries attempt to outbid one another for supplies from major exporters it's inevitable that utilities will turn back to coal to provide heat for its residents and power for its dying economy, but this will not be enough. The effects of Europe's catastrophic policymaking are about to escalate to another level.

"Nations are more reliant than ever on natural gas to heat homes and power industries amid efforts to quit coal and increase the use of cleaner energy sources. But there isn’t enough gas to fuel the post-pandemic recovery and refill depleted stocks before the cold months," Bloomberg's Stephen Stapczynski noted.1

With natural gas inventories in Europe at historically low levels for this time of year, the crunch will get a lot worse when temperatures drop.

The spike in prices has already forced some fertilizer producers in Europe to reduce output, with more expected to follow, threatening to increase costs for farmers and potentially adding to global food inflation, Stapczynski said.

While governments are now hoping that nature will come to their aid with mild winter, making the effects of their catastrophic decisions less severe, that scenario is almost impossible to happen. It's much more likely we'll see another brutally cold winter across the hemisphere, with lots of snow and extremely cold periods in regions where we least expect them.

"The next three to four months may lead to unexpected consequences for all industries with a particular hit being taken by those that are energy-intensive," said Slava Kiryushin, global head of energy at DWF, an international provider of legal and business services.2

"If the winter is actually cold, my concern is we will not have enough gas for use for heating in parts of Europe," Amos Hochstein, the U.S. State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, told Bloomberg. For some countries, 'it won’t only be a recessionary value, it will affect the ability to actually provide gas for heating. It touches everybody’s lives.'

Keep in mind that summers are already shorter and winters longer, putting an additional strain on energy suppliers.

It's utterly embarrassing for the policymakers, but the situation brings back coal to the European table. However, coal alone will not solve the crisis as exports of the commodity from Australia, South Africa, and Colombia remain hampered by the COVID measures and supply chain challenges, compounding the effect of low Russian supply.2

"The crisis in Europe presages trouble for the rest of the planet as the continent’s energy shortage has governments warning of blackouts and factories being forced to shut," Stapczynski said, adding that the power crisis could exacerbate shutdowns if authorities divert gas to light and heat households.

"This winter, the world is likely to learn how much the global economy depends on natural gas," Stapczynski concludes.

As always, it's the people who will suffer the most. When you combine everything that's happening around the world now, it's very likely the winter of 2021/22 will push the world further into chaos.

References:

1 Europe’s Energy Crisis Is Coming for the Rest of the World, Too – Bloomberg Businessweek

2 Europe's energy crisis: A switch back to coal is on the cards – The National News

Featured image credit: Marco Verch (Creative Commons 2.0)

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12 Comments

  1. The comment that winters are longer is in reference to areas in the East having low level snow as early as October, and those snows lasting through April. Oct – April is 6 months, whereas fall and spring periods have also shortened, making up May – July and September – October. Therefore, the dry period makes up less than 6 months of the year. While records were broken in the last 20 years, many records were not broken against 1936.

    This year’s lengthy Summer is a result of multiple high pressure systems occurring that is bringing warm, tropical heat to many places in the US. However, the evidence of weak polar vortexes is showing in that Iceland received a healthy dumping of snow this week with more in the forecast to come soon.

  2. Too many are still bad, even though Santa has given lumps of coal… now you see the long term consequences of settling for less in your stocking, just so you can continue misbehaving. I hope you got your sooty fill.

  3. this big boogieman the govts avoiding is the dreaded “carbon dioxide”
    In UK CO2 is need for foods preserving and
    filling greenhouses to increase plant growth .. hellooo
    who are the brain dead politicians who are pushing this

  4. There are NO SHORTAGES!!! The Globalists are WITHHOLDING resources ON PURPOSE. Just like all of those container ships, SITTING OFF SHORE……..for NO REASON! There are STILL SOME who cannot comprehend that their Masters are in the middle of a Planet-wide EXTERMINATION of us all. There are many who will be on their Death Bed and STILL REFUSE to SEE REALITY! To THOSE individuals, I say…..DO BETTER, in your next life!

  5. This is why we pay taxes.

    We get politicians who make problems and cause shortages that make our lives miserable.

    Then the politicians will get on TV/the Web/whatever and say they are going to solve the problem.

    Usually by raising taxes.

  6. You wrote this:
    “Keep in mind that summers are already shorter and winters longer, putting an additional strain on energy suppliers.”
    Summers are shorter and winters are longer? Since when did the tilt of the axis of the earth change?

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