| Rising energy prices and volatility of energy markets has been threatening economic stability in Europe and inevitably weakening its competitiveness. While the U.S. having access to cheaper unconventional fossil fuel supplies like shale gas, the EU has long term gas and oil contracts with higher prices.
Generally speaking, the EU industry currently pays gas prices three times higher than the industry in the U.S., India or Russia. Meanwhile, EU industrial electricity prices are more than twice those in the U.S. and Russia. This price gap negatively affects the EU's energy-intensive industries' competitiveness, particularly where energy accounts for a vast share of total production costs. ..............................................Full Article: Source
|