AMSTERDAM: Dutch gas company Gasunie will expand capacity at its northern, underground storage facility as strong demand for space drove up prices at auction last week at a time when Europe is bracing for a possible disruption in supplies from Russia.
State-owned Gasunie said in a statement it would boost capacity at the Zuidwending fast-cycle storage facility, operated by EnergyStock, by nearly 1 percent.
Capacity at the facility, which has five underground storage tanks, will be increased by 240,000 MWh, from a current 3GWh, after all new capacity was sold in an auction last Friday. “The high demand was a sign that our customers are anticipating higher natural gas prices,” said Gasunie spokesman Gerben van Dijk.
Europe is preparing emergency measures to secure energy supplies in case of any halt to Russian gas due to the Ukraine crisis. Russia is Europe’s biggest supplier of oil and natural gas and pipelines running through Ukraine are the subject of political manoeuvring in the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
The Netherlands is the largest producer and exporter of natural gas in northwest Europe. The EnergyStock facility is used by gas traders and portfolio managers in Northwestern Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, to secure short-term gas contract needs.
Hollande, Draghi agree on threat from low growth
PARIS: French President Francois Hollande and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi agreed that low inflation and weak growth were threatening the European Union’s economy, an official in the president’s office said.
Draghi called last week for greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity — comments that irritated German leaders but were welcomed in France because they hinted at a shift away from a current emphasis on budgetary austerity.
“I think the diagnosis is a shared one,” an advisor to Hollande told reporters after an hour-long meeting between the Socialist president and Draghi at the Elysee presidential palace.
The two men shared the view that weak growth and dangerously low inflation in the European Union were problems that needed to be addressed, the advisor added.
France has been singled out as a laggard in an otherwise tepid European recovery due to its weak growth rate, record-high unemployment rate and repeated delays in bringing its public deficit below EU targets.
Agencies
