Gas from Russia, what is the use of an EU ceiling on the price

We’ve been talking about it for months now. With greater insistence since it was understood that the war in Ukraine would last a long time. The European gas price cap is an indispensable measure to stop the rise in prices but it is also an important tool for affirming a clear and unambiguous position of Europe in the gas war that Putin is fighting with daily restrictions on supplies. by Gazprom. Moscow shuts off the taps at will to raise the pressure and increase its negotiating capacity, already strong given the blackmail on wheat, stopped in Ukrainian ports, and the progress of the conflict on the ground. And we need an answer that can stem the enormous cost that is being paid. These are the main arguments that Prime Minister Mario Draghi used to bring French President Emmauel Macron and, above all, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to his side. Even on the train back from Kiev, where the three leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the prime minister insisted on the need to tighten on a now indispensable measure. The proposal will be taken to the next European Council, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and this time there seems to be room for a first substantial step towards an agreement. Especially since the scenario is changing rapidly. Putin upped the ante and got the residual resistance to drop in Berlin too. It makes no sense to defend supplies that arrive in fits and starts and alternative routes become obligatory. It is okay to increase alternative supplies, but it is not enough. The other factor that pushes towards the gas price ceiling is precisely the price of gas. The week started with a further strong rise on the market in Amsterdam: futures contracts for the month of July rose by 7.86% to 127 euros per MWh. These data demonstrate all the speculation taking place, because the cost of methane is artificially higher than its actual market value. Hence, the Italian request to limit it unilaterally with a ceiling established at EU level. A measure that would not make sense to take at national level, because it would create an asymmetrical distortion of the market, penalizing the individual countries that decide to adopt it. The Italian plan provides for a ban on trading gas between operators in all European countries at a price above 80 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). In this way, no one would want to import it at higher figures, because it would be a loss-making operation. The scenario is complicated and countermeasures are needed. The extent and quantity of necessary measures is still to be discussed, as shown by different assessments also with respect to the repercussions on consumption. Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, was more optimistic. “In this moment we must not fear anything, we must only fear inaction”. For this, “we must not be alarmed by things that can happen in 4-5 months, we must make sure today that these things do not happen”. Descalzi speaks, of course, data in hand. “At the moment the supply is higher than the demand: 200 million of supply, 150/160 of demand”. Speaking with Adnkronos, he used different words Davide Tabarelli, president of Nomisma Energia. With the cut in gas supplies from Russia “there will be increases in bills and the possibility of interrupting” flows is a certainty, so “we must begin to consider the possibility of rationing, which is a double-edged sword to use. with extreme delicacy “and on which” we need to prepare people, we must tell them and not go astray. But this is an important action that will begin to calm the markets “. Meanwhile, the government is aiming to accelerate reserves: now the stocks are full up to 54%, but the aim is to reach 80-90% by the summer. This will be discussed tomorrow at the Natural Gas Emergency and Monitoring Technical Committee, set up by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which will also discuss the possibility of raising the current state of early warning to alarm.