MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has tasked the government with developing measures to neutralize in the country the negative consequences of Europe’s energy crisis by November, the Kremlin website reported on Monday.
"The Russian government should develop a set of measures to neutralize the risks of formation in the Russian Federation of negative consequences of energy deficit in European countries, particularly destabilization of the markets of nitrogenous fertilizers, metal products and food," according to the list of the president’s instructions following October 20 meeting with cabinet members.
November 1 was set as the deadline for completing the task, with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin appointed responsible.
Europe’s gas crisis deteriorated this autumn after its spot prices soared past $1,000 per 1,000 cubic meters and approached $2,000 per 1,000 cubic meters amid sorely low occupancy of gas storage facilities. Market watchers believe a set of factors triggered the crisis. One of them is an upsurge of gas demand in Asia, which pushed prices on the Asian market higher, as well as an outflow of deliveries from the European market. The fact that the share of wind generation plummeted in Europe also contributed to the deterioration of the situation. However, gas storage facilities having serious lows has become the main reason for the serious volatility on the gas market. As of mid-October, European underground gas storage facilities are 71% full of the volume of gas raised from them last season.
