PARIS – Energy prices soared in 2021 – with gas, oil, coal, electricity and car- bon all shooting higher in large part owing to a resur- gence of geopolitical ten- sions between producers and consumers.The “steep rise in prices was probably the most dra- matic development on the commodities markets in 2021,” noted Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht.The most spectacular surge was that of Europe’s reference gas price, Dutch TTF, which hit 187.78 euros per megawatt hour in De- cember – 10 times higher compared with the start of the year.The spike has been fu- elled by geopolitical ten- sions surrounding Russia, which supplies one third of Europe’s gas.Western countries ac- cuse Russia of limiting gas deliveries to put pressure on Europe amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict and to push through the controver- sial Nord Stream 2 pipeline set to ship Russian gas to Germany.Critics say Nord Stream 2 will increase Europe’s de- pendence on […]
Energy costs soar in 2021, fuelled by political unrest
