China’s power shortage could hurt the growth of the world’s second-largest economy and further hurt the world’s supply chain. Meanwhile, European gas pressures were expected to continue as Russia’s Gazprom showed no signs of increasing exports to the region in October. Coal, oil and gas prices have all skyrocketed in recent weeks, hitting utilities and consumers from Beijing to Brussels, increasing inflationary pressures and endangering a global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. increase. The bright red market highlights the magnitude of the challenges facing world leaders under pressure to plan to pull the economy away from fossil fuels in preparation for the COP26 Summit’s Climate Change Conference starting October 31st. doing.
In Europe, which relies on Russia for 35% of its gas supply, benchmark gas prices have risen by more than 350% this year. As a result, many European companies that supply gas and electricity to homes and businesses have collapsed. Energy regulators in the Czech Republic have taken exceptional steps to ask suppliers to provide peace of mind that they can supply energy to their homes and businesses after another electricity and gas group in the Czech Republic has stopped supplying. ..In the UK, about 12 suppliers have already gone bankrupt. In Asia, utility Ohm Energy said it has withdrawn from Singapore’s retail electricity market. This is the third company in the last few weeks.
Russia says it is ready to supply more gas to Europe. Still, Russia’s gas pipeline export monopoly Gazprom shows no signs of competing to reserve additional capacity. According to Monday’s auction results, Gazprom booked about one-third of the additional gas transport capacity it would provide to the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Poland in November, not via Ukraine.
European politicians have accused Russia of using squeeze as a means of ensuring approval to launch the newly constructed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. Gazprom and the Kremlin say the contracted promises have been met and they have not received any further pumping requests. China, which needs coal to burn about 60% of its power plants, is tackling supply shortages and rising prices for the most polluted fossil fuels, leading to disruption in the supply of electricity to factories and homes. Constraints mean that the economy grew in the third quarter, the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2020, down from 7.9% in the second quarter.
Many measures to increase coal supply have not yet been implemented. According to Reuters calculations based on official data, China’s average daily coal production in September was 11.14 million tonnes. Last week, China released figures showing production of 11.2 million tonnes. This means that it is barely out. Alex Whitworth, Head of Electricity and Renewable Energy Research in Wood Mackenzie’s Asia Pacific region, said: Due to the global backlash from the depth of recession caused by the pandemic, all fossil fuel suppliers are struggling to keep pace. Crude oil prices have risen by more than 60% this year, trading at around $ 85 a barrel on Monday as members of the OPEC + Oil Production Alliance struggle to pump as much as the latest production contract allows. .. European companies are one of those companies that are in a pinch due to soaring energy prices, and there are other challenges, such as a shortage of memory chips and a shortage of shipping containers. “Supply chain volatility is intensifying globally,” said Frans van Houten, CEO of Dutch health technology firm Philips, which adjusted the outlook for 2021. “We expect this headwind to continue in the fourth quarter.”
