Natural gas prices are soaring as Putin shuts down pipelines. Europe is bracing for winter, with economy measures, filling gas reserves and first aid for unaffordable heating costs. How can the chemical sector help?

‘Yes, we can make our own methane, and we already do,’ says Daan Peters, founder of consultancy firm Common Futures in Utrecht. ‘We see that investors are suddenly very interested in that.’ Common Futures provides advice on energy transition. ‘We work on system optimisation in the energy sector: matching demand, supply and infrastructure as well as possible.’

Reserves

The high gas prices are alarming, but the challenge arising from Putin’s messing around with Nordstream is in fact hardly new. We needed to get rid of fossil fuels anyway, and we were already in the midst of a gigantic transition we call ‘the energy transition’, which also concerns related sectors: chemical industry, agriculture, construction – basically all kinds of activity. ‘But the shutdown of Nordstream-1 did put everything on edge,’ Peters says. Suddenly we were talking about a few months, not the decades of the climate plans. The reserves of the Netherlands and many European countries are reasonably well stocked for the coming winter thanks to quick (and expensive) buybacks, and tapping into alternative sources is also taking off. Norway now supplies gas, and a floating terminal was opened in Eemshaven in early September for LNG, liquefied gas brought in by ship. ‘That is understandable. There is an immediate crisis so you want immediate solutions. At the same time, though, there is the realisation that long-term solutions are needed.’