Energy consumption is linked direct to economic activity. According to Eurostat the most significant drop in European energy consumption – 5.8% – occurred in 2009 and is attributed by the agency “to a lower level of economic activity as a result of the global financial and economic crisis”, although in general the consumption of energy continues to grow […]
A key factor in current gas policy is the fight for the European gas market, which is becoming increasingly politicized. It is very evident that this market requires substantial re-structuring, linked to the consequences of American sanctions policy and changes in the system of gas transport routes, even if not all the transport options announced […]
German politicians’ faint hopes that the administration of new US president Joe Biden would replace wrath with favour have been dashed by an icy Transatlantic reality. Washington continues to take an intransigent stance and threaten European participants in the project with sanctions. But Berlin is still trying to withstand the pressure and save face, by […]
2020 was a bad year for most businesses, and for offshore gas projects in Romania especially. Almost a year and a half after Exxon Mobil announced its intention to sell its 50% share in the Neptun Deep offshore project on Romania’s Black Sea shelf, a buyer has yet to be found. And despite the government’s […]
The question of guaranteeing Europe’s energy security through commercially profitable projects is a cornerstone to understanding the future configuration of the global energy market. This situation is creating new interest in even those energy programmes that cannot be viewed as economically sound. This in fact demonstrates that the global economy is preparing to emerge from […]
The Polish geopolitical “Intermarium” project, known as the Three Seas Initiative (TSI) has been on the agenda for five years now and continues to periodically create powerful surges of information. However, Warsaw’s political – or rather propaganda – successes are proving to be substantially more modest than its economic ones. The dialogue that took place […]
Germany intends to consistently and rigorously implement its plan for the development of its national energy sector, with a view to abandoning nuclear energy by 2022 and phasing out coal by 2038. The precise mix on which Angela Merkel’s government is betting for the next few years is made up of alternative energy sources and […]
Nord Stream 2 is at a phase in its development where there is virtually no doubt that it will be completed. The question is what the political and economic costs of launching it will be and whether it will be able to function fully in an economic and geo-economic sense. The outcome of current developments […]
The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TGP) project was conceived twenty years ago and in theory is capable of changing the energy market in Europe. However, for a whole range of reasons – from geopolitical to financial, economic and environmental – this important project for European energy security has stalled. And the prospects for supplying Turkmen gas, […]
In September, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller announced that Poland was prepared to offer Germany a replacement for Nord Stream 2, which is beset with problems. Poland has decided to use the situation to its advantage and to raise the profile of what is considered an alternative to project – the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline. […]
After almost a year of suspense, the future of Romanian gas exports remains highly uncertain. Restrictive legislation adopted by the previous government in 2018 remains in force, while new steps to ease gas exports are proving incongruent with it. The Neptun Deep Standstill Perhaps most revealing is the lack of development in the Neptun Deep […]
A triumphant fanfare was heard in Israel in the middle of the summer: following on the heels of the authorities in Greece and Cyprus, the government had finally ratified the agreement on the construction of the EastMed gas pipeline. The pipeline is intended to deliver gas from the Israeli Leviathan deposit to European consumers.The agreement […]
The global economy has not simply proved to be in a recession, intensified by the coronavirus pandemic: it is confronted with the formation of new systemic political realities. The sooner these new systemic realities are transformed into a new economic understanding, the quicker and more effective the way out of the crisis will be. If […]
In the autumn of 2019, Azerbaijan triumphantly reported that preparations for the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project were moving to their final stage: its launch was scheduled to take place by the end of 2020. However, everything may not be as rosy as Baku has been trying to suggest. The issue is not just the […]
