That awkward "can't-win" moment

As everyone, including things living under rocks, knows, the European Union has been hard at work trying to secure as much natural gas supply for the winter as physically and financial possible.

This summer saw large-scale preparatory work in the form of campaigns for lower energy consumption overall, suggestions of mandatory consumption cuts that have since become a firm stipulation in the crisis management plan of the bloc, and an LNG-buying spree.

And then, like a vastly under-trained horse at the Grand National, the EU’s biggest economy failed to clear the first fence. As soon as the weather began cooling as it does every year in September, German gas demand jumped, and it didn’t just jump, it jumped to a level higher than this time last year. To say that this doesn’t bode well for the rest of the winter is putting things mildly.

A lot of praise has been heaped by the EU on the EU for members overall succeeding in hitting gas storage fill-up targets ahead of deadlines. The achievement, however, was marred by warnings that this is nowhere near enough to ensure smooth energy supply sailing throughout the winter.

On the contrary, the International Energy Agency this week said in its latest quarterly gas report that not only does the EU need to fill up its storage but it also needs to keep it above a certain level to avoid a crunch at the worst possible time.