According to a Bloomberg analysis, winter is over for gas workers, although the cold has finally arrived with very low temperatures in almost all of Europe. Even if the cold weather lasts until the end of the season, Europe will consume much less natural gas than in a normal winter. “Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used energy profits to finance the war in Ukraine, lost,” Bloomberg notes. And HotNews.ro recently showed in its analysis that it is already possible to talk about the victory of Europe in the energy war with Russia. And in Romania, frost is coming, and the authorities are gathering a winter team.

• ANALYSIS Europe’s victory in the energy war with Russia: the New Year begins with low prices and record gas reserves / What is the situation in Romania

We can already say that Europe has experienced the second winter since the beginning of the energy crisis and the sharp reduction in Russian gas imports.

So far, the warm weather has filled the warehouses

Due to lower demand, gas reserves are depleting more slowly than predicted. This is also the reason for the lower prices, according to Bloomberg. Normally too mild weather would be bad news, another sign of global warming, but the warmth has turned out to be an economic boon that has reduced inflation on the continent amid an energy crisis.

Gas storage in the EU is currently 84.88% full and prices on European exchanges are 90% lower than their August 2022 records, reaching €30 per MWh earlier in the year as they were until 2022.

The weather is cold in Romania as well, the authorities are gathering a winter team

Frosty weather is also forecast in Romania in the near future, which is why Energy Minister Sebastian Burduya says he has called a meeting of the winter team.

“Frosts are approaching, and we must be ready. We have convened a meeting of the winter energy team and will do everything to ensure there are no problems,” the minister said. He also gave some advice. Important: If power lines are down, do not touch them, keep family and pets away. Report damaged lines to the utility company!” Burduja said.

In Romania, gas storage facilities are 81.17% full.

European states managed to largely get rid of their dependence on Russian gas by diversifying their supply sources and increasing imports of liquefied gas from the United States and Qatar.

Before the war in Ukraine, Russia exported 155 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe every year. They fell to about 60 billion cubic meters in 2022 and halved from the previous year to 28.3 billion cubic meters in 2023, according to Reuters estimates.

Photo: Marian Vejchyk | Dreamstime.com