NYT still crimping down natural gas demand

Via the New York Times, the continuing saga (emphasis mine): 

...As November approaches, the all-hands-on-deck effort has some analysts more hopeful than they’ve been in months that Europe can make it to spring without energy rationing or blackouts, while speeding up its energy independence.

The steps European nations have taken “are remarkable and will more likely than not transform the energy landscape,” said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank. “Europe will manage to completely decouple from Russia, something that was previously seen as impossible.”

Still, the pivot is coming at a high cost, and Europe’s energy security could be undermined in the coming months.

While Europe has adjusted to Russia’s severe cutbacks in gas exports — Russia now provides less than 10 percent of Europe’s natural gas, from 45 percent of Europe’s supply before the war  — prices for gas remain historically high, forcing shutdowns at energy-intensive businesses, including the production of steel, chemical and glass. Companies are furloughing workers. Governments are issuing more debt to shield households and businesses from pain. There are growing projections that the energy crisis will tilt Europe into a recession next year.

I've probably blogged a bit too much about how much this is going to impact the European chemical industry, but I guess I am keenly aware of how often American firms will purchase high-quality commodity chemicals from Germany (looking at you, Lanxess) and how that has been impacted because of the Russia/Ukrainian war. Here's hoping things get better.