Russia could do more to boost gas supply in Europe, says energy watchdog

The IEA believes that Russia could do more to increase gas availability to Europe and ensure storage is filled properly in preparation for the coming winter heating season, the energy watchdog said. This is also an opportunity for Russia to emphasize its credentials as a reliable supplier on the European market, it added.

It was founded by the world's richest economies in 1974 to respond to an oil embargo by industrial producers. The IEA monitors global supplies and the transition to sustainable energy sources

Gas prices have risen sharply across Europe as a result of depleted stock, a weakness in demand, in particular from China and low supplies from Russia. Other factors include the freezing and long heating season in Europe last winter, and recent lower wind energy according to the IEA. Electricity prices are also soaring.

The state-backed exporter of Russian petroleum gas said that the company has increased gas exports this year to a level close to the historically recorded high, which was achieved in 2018. In a statement to CNN Business, Russia's state-backed exporter of pipeline gas said that the company has increased its gas exports this year to a level close to the historically high, which was reached in 2018? Gazprom supplies gas in compliance with the customers' requests in full compliance with the existing contractual obligations and seeks to satisfy the requests for additional supplies due to the available possibilities, it added. The European gas crisis is also a renewables crisis, but there are ready solutions. The IEA said that the European gas market could face further stress tests from sharp outages and unplanned cold spells, especially if they occur in winter months. The hike in gas, coal and carbon prices in Europe has sent electricity prices at the highest levels in over a decade to their highest levels in over a decade. In Germany and Spain, prices are about three or four times the averages in September we observed in the past two years, according to the IEA. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said it would be inaccurate and misleading to blame the increase in natural gas prices on the clean energy transition. With well-managed clean energy transitions, all of the issues we're seeing in gas and electricity markets today are a solution — not the cause of them, he added.