Energy ministers of European Union states will meet in Luxembourg on Thursday to discuss soaring fuel prices driven by the wars in Ukraine, Iran and Yemen, ahead of the winter season.
“The discussion will address short-term supply and price pressures” as well as “longer-term challenges, particularly the impact of climate change,” the EU’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council said in a statement.
The meeting comes as the EU is entering the winter heating season, with stocks at only 75 percent of available storage, compared with 83 percent a year ago. The European Commission began talks with European refineries on Wednesday to find ways to boost output, including through the possible easing of some technical specifications.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday that the bloc was facing “a very serious situation”. He said affordability was just as urgent an issue as security of supply, arguing that available supply meant little to households and businesses that could not afford it.
European wholesale gas prices briefly touched 100 euros ($111) per megawatt hour on Wednesday for the first time since December 2022, when Europe was reeling from the loss of most of its Russian pipeline gas supply.
Prices have been rising as conflict in the Middle East has escalated, and are now trading at around triple the levels seen before the war on Iran began.
Source of information: Global News Agencies including REUTERS / TASS / AFP / ANADOLU / INT.RU / Al Jazeera / CNN
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