Confronting the gas crisis: Can we REPowerUE?

Journal title ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Author/s Patrice Geoffron
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/1
Language English Pages 11 P. 5-15 File size 66 KB
DOI 10.3280/EFE2022-001001
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This paper aims to analyse the first collective responses, at European level, to the energy (and very acutely for gas) crisis that began in the second half of 2021, but particularly accentuated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, discussions have been held to identify policy levers to reduce Russian gas imports, while ensuring a satisfactory level of security of supply. This type of exercise implies considering different horizons, the first of which is the winter of 2022-2023, with the concern of managing to fill gas stocks sufficiently early. Beyond this emergency, which stems from crisis management, the perspective is also to establish a horizon at which the countries of European Union could do without Russian gas altogether. These two horizons are addressed by two European Commission initiatives: ‘Save gas for a safe winter’ for the shorter term (i.e. winter 2023), and ‘REPowerEU’ beyond, plans whose main mechanisms will be presented here, after reminding the regulatory framework for its security of gas supply at the EU level developed in response to the tensions already ob- served over the last two decades.

Keywords: energy security, economics of gas, European energy policy, geopolicy.

Jel codes: Q35, Q42, Q48, Q54

  1. Aurora Energy Research (2022). Nord Stream 1 impacts and outlook, 27th July.
  2. Birol F. (2022). Coordinated actions across Europe are essential to prevent a major gas crunch: Here are 5 immediate measures, International Energy Agency, 18 July.
  3. Grekou C., Hache E., Lantz F., Massol O., Mignon V. & Ragot L. (2022). Guerre en Ukraine: bouleversements et défis énergétiques en Europe CEPII Policy Brief, N° 37 FR – Mai.
  4. Chepeliev, M., Hertel, T., Van der Mensbrugghe, D. (2022). Cutting Russia’s fossil fuel ex- ports: Short-term pain for long-term gain, VOX, CEPR, 09 March.
  5. ENTSOG (2021). Union-Wide Security of Supply Simulation Report.
  6. European Commission (EC 2022a). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Com- mittee and the Committee of the Regions. REPowerEU: Joint European Action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy. COM/2022/108 final. 8 March 2022.
  7. European Commission (EC 2022b). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Com- mittee and the Committee of the Regions. REPowerEU Plan. COM/2022/230 final. 18 May 2022.
  8. European Commission (EC 2022c). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Commit- tee of the Regions EU. ‘Save Energy’. COM/2022/240 final. 18 May 2022.
  9. European Commission (2000). Green Paper, Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply, COM(2000) 769 final. 29 November 2000.
  10. European Court of Auditors (2022). Opinion 04/2022 concerning the proposal for a Regula- tion of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241as regards REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, Directive 2003/87/EC and De- cision (EU) 2015/1814 [2022/0164 (COD)].
  11. European Parliament (2020). Economic assessment of Carbon Leakage and Carbon Border Adjustment, Policy Department for External Relations, April.
  12. Fulwood M., Hall M., Honoré A. & Sharples J. (2022). The EU plan to reduce Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of 2022: Practical realities and implications. Oxford Energy Insight No 110. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. 18 March.
  13. Honoré A. (2022). Demand response to high gas prices in Europe in 2021 and early 2022.
  14. Oxford Energy Insight No 117. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. June.
  15. International Energy Agency (2022). A 10-Point Plan to Reduce the European Union’s Reli- ance on Russian Natural Gas, 3 March.
  16. International Energy Agency (2020). Energy Policy Review, European Union.
  17. International Monetary Fund, Market Size and Supply Disruptions: Sharing the Pain of a Po- tential Russian Gas Shut-off to the European Union, IMF Working Paper, WP/22/143.
  18. International Monetary Fund, Surging Energy Prices in Europe in the Aftermath of the War: How to Support the Vulnerable and Speed up the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, IMF Working Paper, WP/22/152.
  19. McWilliams B., Sgaravatti G., Tagliapietra S. & Zachmann G. (2022). Can Europe survive painlessly without Russian gas?, Bruegel Blog, 27, January.
  20. Pedersen T.T., Gøtske E.K., Dvorak A., Andresen G.B. & Victoria M. (2022). Long-term implications of reduced gas imports on the decarbonization of the European energy sys- tem. Joule, 6(7): 1566-1580.
  21. Robinson D. (2022). Current Energy Crises, the Energy Transition and the Design of Elec- tricity Markets, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Comment, August.
  22. Sharples J. (2022). Falling Like Dominoes: The Impact of Nord Stream on Russian Gas flows in Europe, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Energy Insight 120, August.
  23. US. Energy Information Administration, Russia’s natural gas pipeline exports to Europe de- cline to almost 40-year lows, August 9 2022

  • Introduction National Energy and Climate Plans in perspective: How can we strike a balance between the desirable and the sustainable? Luigi De Paoli, Patrice Geoffron, in ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 1/2024 pp.15
    DOI: 10.3280/EFE2024-001002

Patrice Geoffron, Confronting the gas crisis: Can we REPowerUE? in "ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT" 1/2022, pp 5-15, DOI: 10.3280/EFE2022-001001