A prominent section of IENE’ s website, “In the Spotlight”, which readers will find just below the announcements area of the site, comprises a selection of timely articles and analyses written by Institute staff and associates or abstracted from authoritative media covering a great variety of subjects. These articles are regularly updated in tune with current energy news on South East Europe but also globally so as to inform readers of latest developments and trends.
In the current edition of “In the Spotlight” you will find a piece by Irina Slav, lead editor of IENE’s Comment, on “ Europe needs to start buying gas now” which portrays the current situation regarding the poor state of gas inventories across the continent, which are sitting at levels much lower than the seasonal average. As she argues the reason for this adverse position is prices. “ While far below peaks reached in 2022, at over 300 euro per MWh, Europe’s benchmark gas price is twice as high, at over 50 euro per MWh, than it was before the United States and Israel launched the strikes on Iran that set off the latest Middle Eastern war.”
“It is understandable”, continues Irina Slav, “ that gas companies would prefer to buy gas cheaper and then make a profit on it during peak demand season. However, with the future of energy flows out of the Middle East αs murky as it was three months ago, if not murkier, this may be a significant risk-because if flows don’t resume, gas prices will move even higher”
“If there is a very cold winter or there is an extended period of cold weather, then you might find that you have to do some sort of demand mitigation, higher prices, or else European markets would run out of gas”, Slav notes, quoting a senior research analyst. To read more of this intriguing story please go to “In the Spotlight” section.
Other stories of topical interest include an analysis by Vasili Nicoletopoulos
on the key role that Critical Raw Materials play in the current unstable geopolitical environment; the story behind the latest Israeli-Egypt Natural Gas Agreement and Turkiye’s role, by Gokhan Yardim; How is Europe caught once again in the grip of a geopolitical crisis, by Costis Stambolis; Nuclear revival needs $ 250 by a year, industry says, an in depth examination by the Financial Times and several other contributions which cover developments in Renewable Energy, in the Oil and Gas scene in relation to the conflict in the Middle East but also report on IENE’s latest major study, the “ SEE Energy Outlook 2025/2026”.
