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Energy Connections

Take the city of Oxford to space, and other things you can do with the £33bn Hinkley Point subsidy pot

Energy news, often confined to the inside pages of UK national newspapers, led the front pages last week when the British government stunned French state-owned firm EDF by announcing a review of the contract underpinning the giant Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant. When discussing our coverage with ICIS colleagues, we made a back-of-the-envelope calculation […]

Just how Rough will UK gas supply be this winter?

News that Britain’s largest natural gas storage site Rough could be out of action for the coming winter sent shock waves through the NBP market. The announcement has ramifications not just in Britain, but throughout northwest Europe due to the influence of the NBP. So how much does Britain actually rely on Rough to supply […]

Northwest Europe is a surprisingly important source of LNG

The content of my conversations with LNG traders and ship brokers has changed in recent months with a much greater interest now in pricing developments at northwest European gas hubs. About a year ago Europe was touted by LNG sellers as the key source of demand in a market that would be oversupplied for years […]

Squaring the circle of Nord Stream 2

The planned Nord Stream extension continues to generate vigorous debate, showing the difficulty of marrying aims of cost-effectiveness, social benefit and political acceptability. A project of Russia’s Gazprom in partnership with a handful of Europe-based energy majors, Nord Stream 2 would double the existing gas supply pipeline’s capacity of 55bcm/year by 2019. It would also […]

Stricter energy market abuse rules to apply from 3 July

In less than one month, energy trading across all European countries will be subject to stricter trading rules, as the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the directive on criminal sanctions for market abuse come into force. From 3 July, the two pieces of legislation will strengthen the current anti-abuse framework and widen its scope. The rules aim to prohibit insider dealing and market manipulation, and […]

Advice for politicians touting security of supply: be practical

A common theme was bandied about the stage at Gas Infrastructure Europe’s annual conference in Sofia last week: security and diversification of supply. But conference goers are seemingly tired of what they are terming political idealisms. The speaker line-up on day one of the conference was impressive. Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov stole the limelight […]

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