This winter has been a bit cold, and the "sky-high" natural gas in the United States has hurt Europe

As winter approaches, European countries are worried about energy shortages
.
France launched a national energy-saving plan, calling on people to reduce hot shower time and completely shut down electronic devices in standby at night; Many places in the UK plan to open public places such as libraries with heating equipment free of charge for people to escape the cold; In Italy, many families have even "traveled" through the era of rekindling wood for heating, hoarding firewood for the winter in advance
.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has followed the United States in imposing multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia, but the backlash effect caused by the sanctions has strained European energy supplies and soared
natural gas and electricity prices.
The International Energy Agency has warned that Europe will face an "unprecedented" risk of gas shortages this winter
.
At the same time, the United States sells gas
to Europe at high prices.
According to a number of European media reports, each LNG carrier sailing to Europe by a US company can earn more than $100 million in profits, making industry insiders shout "crazy"
.

On the one hand, the United States made a windfall, and on the other hand, Europe cried
bitterly.
As the cold winter approaches, temperatures seem to be chilling
.
French President Emmanuel Macron couldn't help but complain about the high cost
of American gas at a conference of entrepreneurs in Paris a few days ago.
"We're going to tell our American friends that you've provided us with energy, but we're paying four times the price, and for friendship's sake, we can't go on like this
.
" Macron said that it is necessary to talk about this issue
at the G7 meeting.

In addition to France, Germany is also complaining about "sky-high" bills
.
A few days ago, German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate Protection Robert Habeck also implied in an exclusive interview that the United States and other "friendly" countries supply natural gas to Germany at excessively high prices, taking advantage of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to make war profits
.
He also called on EU countries to be more united and engage in dialogue
with "friendly" countries.
Habeck previously said that because of the purchase of natural gas from sources other than Russia, energy costs are higher than in the past, and Germany's economic losses will be close to 60 billion euros this year, and next year's losses may be close to 100 billion euros
.

Since the end of February this year, the energy crisis has caused European energy prices to soar, and in local currency terms, the price of natural gas in Europe has increased by more than 100%.

For Europe, struggling to find energy supplies, U.
S.
gas exports have become even more important
.
According to financial information service provider Refinitiv, U.
S.
outbound cargo ships loaded 6.
3 million tons of LNG in September, nearly 70 percent of which were destined for Europe
.

Europe is mired in energy anxiety, while U.
S
.
suppliers are making a lot of money.
For example, US energy giant ExxonMobil said that the company's net income in the second quarter of this year was $17.
9 billion, the highest quarterly profit in the company's history, far exceeding the $4.
69 billion
in the same period last year.
With the continuous increase of Western energy sanctions against Russia, coupled with the recent "Nord Stream" natural gas pipeline leakage, European countries have to increase the import of high-priced energy in the United States, and the speed of profiteering by US energy suppliers may be further accelerated
in the future.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Americans made a windfall, and the Europeans paid them while making their country's economy uncompetitive
.

Soaring energy prices have created a dangerous transmission chain that not only "fuels" inflation, but also seriously weighs on the economic outlook
.
Eurostat data showed that inflation in the eurozone reached an annualized rate of 10% in September, another record high
.
Germany, the "locomotive" of the European economy, has also begun to show economic warning signs
.
The Bundesbank recently issued a forecast that the German economy may shrink
in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, mainly affected by the energy crisis.

Not only that, high energy costs are forcing energy-intensive companies in many European countries to reduce or stop production, making Europe face the challenge
of "deindustrialization".
Affected by soaring energy prices, some European manufacturing companies have recently been forced to stop production or decided to relocate their production lines, the largest aluminum manufacturer in the Netherlands, Delf Zarddam Aluminium Co.
, Ltd.
, recently announced the suspension of production, and the largest European fertilizer producer Norwegian Yala International has closed a large fertilizer plant
.
The European Nonferrous Metals Association says half of Europe's zinc and aluminium production is already at a standstill, with European metallurgists facing an existential threat
.
Oliver Falke, head of the Industrial Economics Center at the Iver Institute for Economic Research in Germany, said: "If energy prices remain high for a long time, some industries will leave Germany
.
”

What makes Europeans more helpless is that because the price of energy in the United States is much lower than that in Europe, the United States has become one of the important destinations for European companies to relocate their production lines.

According to the German "Handelsblatt" reported a few days ago, the US state of Oklahoma alone has attracted more than 60 German companies to invest and expand their business, including Lufthansa, Siemens, Aldi and Fresenius, which have recently expanded their investment by nearly $300 million
.

Due to the diversity of energy needs, dependence on suppliers and energy mix of EU member states, there are always difficult differences within the EU to harmonize overall energy policies
.
The informal meeting of EU leaders held on the 7th of this month held consultations on energy issues, but did not reach any concrete results
.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that in response to the current rising prices of natural gas and electricity, the European Commission will come up with detailed proposals
in the coming weeks.
What is clear, she added, is that when gas stocks run out next spring, it will be crucial
for the EU to push for joint purchases.