Some Emerging European States Need to Do More to Liberalise Energy Markets

as declared in An effective unbundling will diversify the energy market. This is not merely related to EU countries, as the integration of the Balkans into a single European energy system is one of the priorities of the EU. Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo have all been part of the so-called Energy Community since 2006, with the main goal of creating an integrated European-Trans Balkan energy market. "As regards Energy Community countries, the commission represents the European Union in the secretariat and participates in the monitoring and assessing of the progress of the transposition of Third Energy Package legislation in the countries party to the community," Ms Itkonen says. As a result, these countries continue to keep their energy markets closed, as opposed to opening themselves up to increased integration with the European Union, harming competition and potential investment.

Texas's Free Markets Light the Way to Clean Energy

(Editor's Note: TAC is cohosting a discussion on this topic with the Texas Clean Energy Coalition and the R Street Institute in Washington tomorrow. They should instead be looking to Texas, where a deregulated electric market has highlighted the benefits of a market-based approach. Ill-conceived policies like coal subsidies or taxpayer bailouts for coal plants would distort the U.S. energy market, delaying or derailing the potential for a Texas-style market-driven transition to clean energy. The rightward shift in the national environmental policy landscape places Texas and its market-driven clean energy transition at the forefront of new discussions about environmental regulation and electric markets. Elizabeth Lippincott is executive director of the Texas Clean Energy Coalition.

Russia Used Social Media to Influence U.S. Energy Markets Since 2015, Lawmakers Say

referring to Russia has used divisive and inflammatory posts on social media platforms in an effort to interfere with U.S. energy markets and influence domestic energy policy, according to a report issued Thursday by Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. According to the report, an estimated 9,097 Russian messages regarding U.S. energy policy or energy events were posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram between 2015 and 2017. IRA targeted pipelines, fossil fuels, climate change and other divisive issues to influence public policy in the United States. The American people deserve to know if what they see on social media is the creation of a foreign power seeking to undermine our domestic energy policy." The main focus of the Russia efforts centered on disruption of pipeline development or the advancement of climate change policies targeting fossil fuels.

London Covered in Snow as Cold Snap Makes Energy Markets Shiver

U.K. gas prices doubled to the highest in more than a decade in a bitter weather front that has killed at least 24 people throughout Europe and covered Mediterranean beaches with snow. "Cold weather, tight storage and supply issues combined to drive up gas prices in Britain and across Europe," Enappsys Ltd., an energy trading consultant in Stockton-on-Tees, England, said in an emailed note. Average temperatures in the U.K. are forecast at minus 3.3 Celsius on Wednesday, about 8 degrees below seasonal norms. Flows from Norway have been reduced due to an outage at a key processing plant, while heavy snow at a U.K. gas terminal is preventing pipeline imports from the Netherlands. Average temperatures in Germany are forecast at minus 7.1 Celsius, about 9 degrees below seasonal norms.

collected by :Victor Alphen