Europe is set for a mild November, easing pressure on natural-gas storage as the region’s energy crunch restricts supplies ahead of winter.
Long-range outlooks from forecasters Maxar Technologies and Marex show no cold spells for the month — a relief for households worried about the cost of heating and for governments keen to preserve gas stocks following a slump in Russian supply.
“In terms of energy demand, the warm start to November would be a welcome sign given the current state of global energy,” said Matthew Dross, a meteorologist at Maxar. “Still, occasional bouts of cold air cannot be ruled out for November and the winter 2022-2023 season as a whole.”
Photo: Reuters
European gas prices have dropped significantly since peaking in August, but are still about 80 percent above year-ago levels. Market spikes have driven up costs for consumers and industry, with many bracing for eyewatering winter bills.
“Strong above-normal” temperatures are expected early this month, while mild weather will continue through the month, Dross said.
Other forecasters have suggested a possible return to average temperatures in the second half of this month.
Autumn in Europe has already been unseasonably warm, with last month registering the lowest number of “heating-degree days” since 2000, Dross said.
That has helped keep gas in storage facilities, which are now about 95 percent full across the continent, with Germany’s sites above target at almost 99 percent.
Germany’s national forecaster Deutscher Wetterdienst said the country’s current warm weather is set to continue, while France’s weather service also sees higher-than-usual temperatures persisting.
In the UK, the chances of a colder-than-normal winter are actually increasing, although the most likely scenario remains an average winter through next month, Britain’s Met Office said.
Lower-than-expected gas demand and declining prices — coupled with limited capacity to accommodate incoming cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — have already triggered greater use of floating storage. Traders globally are keeping their LNG shipments on vessels for longer — with record volumes at sea last month — in anticipation of higher prices later in the season.
“LNG carriers with an estimated worth of about US$2 billion are currently queuing to unload their cargo,” said Alexandre Fierro, a senior meteorologist and research analyst at Marex in London.
A warm November would be far from solving Europe’s energy problems, but a delayed start to the heating season would at least give policymakers some breathing room.
Moreover, if the region is spared a deep freeze this winter — as predicted by scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service — consumers might get welcome respite from the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.
TIT-FOR-TAT: The arrest of Filipinos that Manila said were in China as part of a scholarship program follows the Philippines’ detention of at least a dozen Chinese The Philippines yesterday expressed alarm over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies. Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine National Security Council to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime. The National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship program created under an agreement between the
Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle. This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears — mostly sweat — to St Peter’s Anglican church in the northern England town of Shipley. It is the creation of Gareth Thompson, a charismatic 37-year-old who said he was saved by pro wrestling and Jesus — and wants others to have the same experience. The outsized characters and scripted morality battles of pro wrestling fit
ACCESS DISPUTE: The blast struck a house, and set cars and tractors alight, with the fires wrecking several other structures and cutting electricity An explosion killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman and a one-year-old, during a standoff between rival groups of gold miners early on Thursday in northwestern Bolivia, police said, a rare instance of a territorial dispute between the nation’s mining cooperatives turning fatal. The blast thundered through the Yani mining camp as two rival mining groups disputed access to the gold mine near the mountain town of Sorata, about 150km northwest of the country’s administrative capital of La Paz, said Colonel Gunther Agudo, a local police officer. Several gold deposits straddle the remote area. Agudo had initially reported six people killed,
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
RSS