Environmental campaigners argue the risk of sabotage or an accident makes fossil infrastructure a “ticking time bomb.”
Lisi Niesner | Reuters
European Union energy ministers agreed to a “dynamic” cap on natural gas prices Monday after two months of intense negotiations.
Introducing a limit on gas prices has proved controversial for European officials. While many EU member states have argued that the measure is essential to bring down sky-high energy costs for consumers, others have worried about the potential market implications of the policy.
“We did our job, we have the deal. Another mission impossible accomplished,” Jozef Sikela, industry minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU Council presidency, said in a press conference.
However, energy ministers overcame their differences and agreed to what they’re calling a market correction mechanism.
The mechanism will be automatically activated under two conditions: If front-month gas contracts exceed 180 euros ($191) per megawatt hour on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility — Europe’s main benchmark for natural gas prices — for three working days in a row; and the price is 35 euros higher than a reference price for liquid natural gas on global markets for the same period.
The measure will apply from Feb. 15. When activated, it will last for at least 20 working days.
The Dutch TTF traded around 109 euros per megawatt hour on Monday.
Sikela stressed that it is not a strict cap, as prices could potentially go above the limit if prices on the LNG market go above a certain level. “In other words, this is not a fixed cap but a dynamic one,” Sikela added.
“Today, we reached an agreement on a proposal for a market correction mechanism to protect citizens & economy against excessively high [energy prices],” Tinne Van der Straeten, Belgium’s energy minister, wrote on Twitter.
“From the start there was a common goal: keeping prices under control & securing security of supply. Today, we achieved this goal.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
