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EU ministers fail again to clinch deal on natural gas price cap

Wednesday, 14 December 2022 7:21 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 14 December 2022 7:21 AM ]

Pipes are pictured at a gas compressor station in Mallnow, Germany, on November 1, 2021. (Photo by Reuters)

European Union (EU) energy ministers have failed to reach an agreement on an upper limit price for purchasing natural gas for countries in the bloc despite months of negotiations.

EU energy ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday and tried to iron out their differences on how to reduce Europe's energy crunch and find ways to purchase gas together, as well as what measures to take to speed up authorizations for renewable energy installations.

However, their efforts to reach a consensus were to no avail and the ministers eventually left the unresolved package of issues for negotiations next week.

Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela, who chaired the meeting under his country's EU presidency, told reporters that, "Our aim is to approve all three items in a package on Monday," when energy ministers meet again.

Meanwhile, economists warn that high fuel prices will have more people killed in Europe this winter than war will in Ukraine.

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To address the crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) called on the bloc's decisions-makers to act faster to save energy and expand renewables.

Fatih Birol, the head of the Paris-based agency, said on Monday that the EU had stored enough gas to get through the winter but "the crisis is not over."

"We may go through this winter with some economic and social bruises, but normally we should go to this winter without shortages as a result of all the measures taken in Europe because our gas shortages are very high," Birol said, noting, "The message that I am bringing up to you today is that the crisis is not over and next year 2023 may be much more difficult than this year."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that efforts to set a cap on energy commodities was "contrary to market principles and highly likely to result in serious consequences for the global energy market."

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