Brussels does not accept the Spanish proposal to cap the price of Russian gas

The third vice-president of the Government and Minister of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has indicated that she is disappointed because the European Commission has “fallen short” with its proposal to put a price cap on gas imports from Russia.

“This was a debate that already arose at the beginning of September and we are very disappointed with the non-proposal made by the Commission,” said Ribera upon entering the Council of Energy Ministers of the EU, who has detailed that “it is a sensitive issue” and that Brussels tries to find a point in which all member states can respond positively.

“Unfortunately we think that the terms in which the Commission is making the proposals fall short of what Europe needs,” added the head of Ecological Transition on the working document presented this week by the Community Executive and in which it proposes to establish a maximum price for gas imports from Moscow to the community market.

In this sense, Ribera has indicated that some Member States consider that this “limit of purchase of gas price should apply only to Russian gas” while another 15 Member States have signed a face asking that this measure be applied “to all gas operations that reach the EU”.

The third vice-president has described as “reasonable” that “suppliers of gas by tube are not treated the same as suppliers of liquefied natural gas”.

In a further step, Ribera has pointed out that “it is not reasonable for us to look the other way when there are many intermediaries and many operations that are being closed at prices that have nothing to do with production costs, nor with the prices paid to the supplier”.

In this regard, Ribera explained that “there are three major suppliers of gas by tube in Europe: Algeria, Russia and Norway” and added that “there must be talks with Algeria” since with Norway there have already been talks and with Russia the dialogue has been broken.

Alternatives to TTF

The Minister for the Ecological Transition has stressed that it is “important to work on the reference change used by European operators” of gas, that is, the reference index of the price of gas in Europe, the Dutch TTF (Title Transfer Facility).

Ribera has considered that “it can not be the one that marks the prices of the contracts” in the EU and has expressed his willingness for the Twenty-seven to reach an “orientation in this regard, since “it does not respond to reality”.

In this context, the third vice-president has urged to “change the weight of the reference of the gas markets” to achieve a reduction in prices, “because all the pollution that we are experiencing of energy prices is closely linked to the reference used by operators in gas markets”.

“If we manage to change that reference, if we manage to make it much more adjusted to real production costs, we will be able to induce a significant reduction in energy prices,” added the head of Ecological Transition.

Thus, Ribera has argued that the TTF index “is not responding” to the “cost behind gas purchase operations” and that “it is generating enormous distortions in our prices in Europe”.

Source: OK Diario