Gas Again Sucker

The official line on the future of our Gas supply seemed to me to be: there's some short term problems right now with supply, they will quickly be sorted out in the next couple of years - Russia's got masses of Gas, once we can pipe it in, prices will go down and we can all forget about it. A few worries about the political influence Russia could wield if Europe is so energy dependent on it have been downplayed with a Russia needs us more than we need Russia angle.

OK, lets accept that point of view for a while then - Russia won't gain any political leverage on us (or cut us off at the drop of a hat like the Ukraine or Georgia) and we can depend on a nice load of cheap gas from there for the politically expedient future. Great.

Then I read this in yesterday's Guardian. Where comments made to MEPs and senior EU officials at the European Enterprise Institute - by Eric Berglof, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - are recorded. Berglof told them that Gazprom, the Russian gas group majority-owned by the state, would struggle to offset declines in output, but demand from Europe and ex-Soviet Union countries would grow at 2-3% a year. Apparently 70% of production at Gazprom, the world's third-largest energy group, comes from fields whose gas is running out.

Read the whole article for more bad news. If you can really be arsed you can read one of the other presentations given at the event by Christian Cleutinx, the Director of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue at the European Commission. Obviously these people have there own little axes to grind etc. But they aren't your usual suspects are they? The range and number of voices now indicating or hinting at a forthcoming energy crisis are growing day by day.

Have you insulated your loft yet?