Ursula von der Leyen, who is president of the European Commission, met the press on Wednesday afternoon. There she announced that the EU will recommend a price ceiling on Russian gas together with other measures, including a mandatory cut in electricity consumption during peak hours. – We must cut the income that Putin uses to finance this terrible war, he said. The EU has long announced an intervention in the electricity market, an emergency reform, to curb the rise in power prices. The signal will nevertheless arouse reactions in Moscow. President Vladimir Putin threatens to break all agreements. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP Moscow reacts On Wednesday morning, President Vladimir Putin made it clear that Russia will ignore signed oil and gas contracts if the West introduces a price ceiling on gas. Reuters reports. – Limiting the prices will be an incredibly stupid decision. We will not deliver anything at all if it is against our interests, in this case our financial interests. That means no gas, no oil, no coal, no heating oil, nothing, said the Russian president. On Monday, Gazprom stopped all gas supplies to Europe indefinitely. The company initially reported a technical problem, but yesterday Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, stated that it is the Western sanctions against Russia that are the real cause. The energy ministers of the EU countries gather for an emergency meeting on the energy crisis on Friday. There they will hopefully discuss price limits on gas, according to the website Politico. – It is in Norway’s interest that we reduce the anxiety of our allies and partners, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap). Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB – It is in Norway’s interest that we reduce the unrest The Straummarknaden works so that it is the most expensive form of production as seen by the price for the entire market, and the most expensive form of production is gas. Lower gas prices are therefore a key to overcoming the enormous price increase in electricity. – It is in Norway’s interest that we reduce the anxiety of our allies and partners. So Norway does not close the door to any such discussions, Jonas Gahr Støre told the Financial Times this week. The statement was interpreted as him opening up to discuss a fixed price for gas. It is an adjustment to the message from August when Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) told news that the government has not considered introducing a price ceiling on gas. Although much needs to be done for the EU to intervene directly in the energy market, Equinor and others who sell gas are free to enter into long-term agreements at prices they define themselves. And it is to Equinor that the Prime Minister sends a greeting: – It is Equinor and similar players who must be responsible for making short-term and long-term agreements with their customers in Europe. Equinor: – We are always open to discuss Equinor’s spokesperson, Magnus Frantzen Eidsvold, said in August that their priority was “well-functioning markets and free price formation”, and that a price ceiling “could reinforce the imbalances in the energy market”. To the Financial Times, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal expresses himself a little less dismissively: – We are always open to discussing different arrangements for gas supply, this also includes long-term gas supply contracts, he says. A round of calls to the Storting shows that support for the maximum price is greatest with MDG and Raudt (see below). – It is not Norway’s responsibility to subsidize gas Paal Frisvold, head of MDG’s international committee – Norway must enter into dialogue and cooperation with the EU’s governing powers in order to ensure that the price ceiling benefits European households. If we set a unilateral ceiling, it will be eaten up by importers and distributors. The EU countries have already set up a “Gas coordination group”, but it will take time to work out the legal details of how this can be done. But if the government expresses its interest, we have a greater chance of achieving an arrangement that we ourselves agree to. Marius Arion Nilsen, parliamentary representative for Frp – It is not Norway’s responsibility to subsidize gas to land. Especially not to countries that have shut down and shut down well-functioning power generation in their own countries. That Putin uses energy power as a means of pressure should not surprise anyone. At the same time, it can be imagined that there are some tools that allow companies on the shelf to offer fixed price agreements to a limited extent. In any case, it must be up to the company itself. Ove Trellevik, spokesperson for petroleum policy in Høgre – If the price is to go down, it will affect the work and the incentive to work to obtain more alternative energy. It will also have a negative effect on the amount of energy because you will not have the same incentive to save gas. In addition, there will be a demarcation problem. Who will get cheaper gas? Should there be different prices for Germany and Ukraine? When it comes to morals, it is possible that we could stand in the way of an international aid fund for rebuilding Ukraine. They are the ones who primarily need help now. Lars Haltbrekken, parliamentary representative for SV – When Europe experiences the driest summer in 500 years and experiences the climate crisis up close, we cannot make fossil energy cheaper. But the large revenues oblige Norway to stand up for Europe and Ukraine, and for other and poorer parts of the world that feel the dramatic consequences of increased fuel and food prices. Ola Elvestuen, parliamentary representative for the Liberal Party – Gas prices are high for a reason, and are helping to accelerate the transition away from the use of Russian gas in Europe. We must contribute with as high a gas export as possible, while at the same time we continue the energy cooperation with exchange cables for electricity to Europe. Figures from August show that the Norwegian state spent NOK 634 billion in the second quarter. It is more than something. And recently Dagens Næringsliv reported that Norges Bank is increasing the krone sale to NOK 3.5 billion a day, as a result of the high oil and gas revenues. State Secretary Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap) in the Ministry of Oil and Energy, said in Politisk Kvarter that the Norwegian gas revenues in 2022 could be 1,500 billion. Appeal to “democratic, friendly and reliable Norway” These “war revenues” (as the magazine Time wrote) have in turn created pressure that Norway must introduce more “solidarity gas prices”. In a much-discussed appeal to “democratic, friendly and reliable Norway”, the British newspaper Financial Times has claimed that Norwegian authorities now have strategic as well as moral reasons to come to Europe’s aid.
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Støre opens to discuss fixed price for gas – news Vestland
