Europe's warm winter is difficult to eliminate the industrial energy crisis

Except for meteorologists, it may not occur to anyone that Europe's energy crisis this winter is "solved" by weather
.
During the New Year's Day, at least seven countries in Europe saw record temperatures
.
This has led to a significant drop
in European gas consumption.
As of January 1, 2023, Europe's total natural gas storage was as high as 83.
5%; As of January 11, Germany's natural gas storage was 91.
1%.

As a result, European gas benchmark prices hit their lowest levels
since the end of January 2022.
It can be said that the warm weather has greatly alleviated the energy crisis
that Europe is experiencing.
However, the author believes that the alleviation of the energy crisis does not mean the lifting
of the energy crisis.
In 2023, Europe still needs to work hard to survive the winter safely, especially to meet the needs
of industry, including the chemical industry.

At present, European gas consumption is still suppressed
even with high gas storage in Europe.
The warm winter has suppressed household consumption demand, but industrial demand has still not been fully liberalized
.
Not to mention, high gas prices in 2022 have severely dampened European industrial production
.
At present, because the conversion of European gas sources is far from complete, governments are still cautious about the allocation of natural gas in case it is needed
.
Market participants also expect European gas prices in 2023, while certainly lower than in 2022, to be significantly higher than in
2019.
This is not a boon
for European industry.

In addition, European industries are also facing pressure for low-carbon transition, which is closely related
to the recruitment of investment by enterprises.
However, Europe is currently accelerating the energy transition on the one hand, and turning back on the other hand, both in order to obtain a more stable energy source
.
But the energy transition has limited effect, and it is expected that Europe's carbon emissions are likely to increase
slightly.
This has led industrial companies to bear not only higher energy costs, but also the costs
of the energy transition.
In the past, cheap Russian gas made it profitable to transform companies, but as the source of raw materials shifted, the cost problem in European industry began to appear
.
It is also part of the
energy crisis in European industry.
As things stand, the European energy crisis is far less violent than expected in 2022, but it will take time for it to be fully resolved
.