BRUSSELS—European energy ministers gathered Monday for the second time in one week, attempting to strike a deal on an emergency limit for natural-gas prices, which have been sent soaring by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The debate over how and whether to intervene in the continent’s natural-gas market has emerged as one of the most divisive elements of the European Union’s response to Moscow’s war and its squeeze on the continent’s energy supplies. Some countries say a price cap is needed to ease the burden of high prices on consumers and businesses, while others worry such a move could inadvertently lead to shortages.
Energy ministers on Monday appeared determined to find an agreement in what many said they hoped would be their final meeting of the year.
“I strongly believe that the deal is within reach,” EU Energy Commissioner
Kadri Simson
said on her way into the meeting. Reaching an agreement will require “a very strong spirit of compromise from everyone,” she said.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, last month proposed a plan that sought to limit the biggest spikes in natural-gas prices, which it described as a market-correction mechanism. The proposal included a set of safeguards meant to ease concerns from countries that have worried a price cap could have the unwanted effect of constricting supply.
Under the terms of the original proposal, month-ahead natural-gas prices on the EU’s main trading hub could be capped at 275 euros a megawatt-hour, equivalent to about $291. But the plan said the limit could only be activated under certain conditions: Prices would need to stay above that level for two weeks, and would need to be higher than a reference level for liquefied natural gas prices for at least 10 consecutive days.
A liquefied natural gas vessel docks at a terminal in Germany. A tight global market for LNG is expected to make it harder for Europe to get through next year’s winter without shortages.
Photo:
Liesa Johannssen/Bloomberg News
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