News

The puzzle continues on Russian gas

Published

4 months ago

04/04/2022

Uncertainty is increasing in European countries, which supply natural gas mostly from Russia, after the payment in Ruble. While there is no cut in natural gas supply to Europe yet, European leaders have not finalized their decisions.

In Europe, which is dependent on Russian natural gas , question marks continue to increase after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s payment in rubles.

Russia announced that it will receive the payment of natural gas it sold to “unfriendly countries” in rubles as of April 1st. This decision was taken in order to protect the value of the Ruble and against the economic sanctions against Russia.

Although the decision came into effect on April 1, European countries have not yet made an official statement on whether they will accept this situation.

EUROPEAN DEPENDENT

About 40 percent of the EU’s gas imports and 30 percent of its oil imports come from Russia. The money for these energy products is mostly paid in euros and dollars . Russia earns 400 million euros a day from gas sales to the EU.

However, in the event that Russia cuts off its energy supply, the EU currently has no resources to replace these products. For this reason, there is still uncertainty about the natural gas to be shipped to Europe.

EUROPE IS LOADED TO THE WIND

While the puzzle continues in Russian gas, European countries continue to seek new alternatives to Russian gas. At the same time, EU countries, which are trying to reduce carbon emissions, do not look forward to alternatives such as coal and nuclear energy, but are trying to turn to renewable energy.

In the first three days of the week, wind farms produced only 20.5 percent of electricity production in the EU, according to WindEurope data. This share was normally around 10 percent on average.

On the other hand, Russian energy company Gazprom reported that natural gas exports decreased by 27.1 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period of the previous year, to 38.5 billion cubic meters.

NO DISCONTINUATION YET

Meanwhile, Russian officials, who gave information about the cut-off allegations, stated that such a situation is not in question for now. Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday it continues to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine, in line with requests from European consumers.

“Gazprom supplies Russian gas in normal mode for transit through the territory of Ukraine, in accordance with the reservations of European consumers of 108.4 million cubic meters on April 1,” Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov also announced that there is no gas cut to countries that have not yet approved to pay in rubles.

News

Used car prices in the Netherlands fell for the first time this year

Published

15 hours ago

15/08/2022

Berry Fox

buy car netherlands e1660138253922 1200x1200 1

Used car prices in the Netherlands fell for the first time this year. Data were obtained from the vehicle sales platform AutoScout24. According to the platform, the reason for the decrease is the summer holiday.

How much are used car prices in the Netherlands?

AutoScout24 stated that during the summer holidays, people’s interests are generally towards vacationing, so the decrease in prices may be due to this.

An average used car was sold for 23,531 euros in July. This rate is 1.2 percent less than the previous month. At the beginning of this year, the average price of second-hand was 22,158 euros. There has been no decline in used car prices since the spring of 2021.

On the other hand, the increase in second-hand items in other European countries continues. Prices continued to rise in France, Austria and Belgium last month, while Germany saw a small decline of 0.2 percent.

Germany is still at the top of Europe in this field, with an average used car price of 27,361 euros.

Image source: ipravda.sk

News

Declining interest in Randstad region in the Netherlands

Published

15 hours ago

15/08/2022

Berry Fox

Declining interest in Randstad region in the Netherlands

The proportion of people leaving the Randstad area in the Netherlands has increased over the past year. According to the National Statistics Agency (CBS), 75,000 people left the region last year. The number of people who moved to the region was 55 thousand.

CBS data indicated that those over the age of 30 are increasingly leaving the west of the country.

Statistics also show that the number of people leaving the Randstad area has increased since 2014. While 48 thousand people left the region in 2014, this number increased to 70 thousand in 2020.

On the other hand, the proportion of those who moved to Randstad remained roughly the same, reaching 55 thousand last year. Looking at all the data, the number of Dutch people giving up city life has been increasing since 2017.

However, the increase in the number of people leaving Randstad does not mean that the region is empty.

News

Netherlands uses Europe’s most expensive natural gas

Published

15 hours ago

15/08/2022

Berry Fox

The Netherlands became the country that used the most expensive natural gas among the European Union countries with its natural gas prices in July.

Nieuwsuur, which collects data from the comparison site Energievergelijk.nl, last month the natural gas bill of a house in the Netherlands cost 283 Euros. This rate is double that of many EU countries. Neighboring countries of the Netherlands are Germany and Belgium, a few of these countries.

In June, the peak of gas prices was in Sweden, while the Netherlands took the second place. In July, the leadership changed hands. Last month gas bills in Sweden averaged 237.

Electricity bills in the Netherlands are also quite high compared to other countries. The Dutch paid an average of 419 euros for electricity in July. There are only two European countries that face more electricity bills than the Netherlands: Italy and Denmark.

According to the estimates of Energievergelijk.nl, citizens who will renew their energy contracts this year will pay an average of 3,700 euros more per year.

Nibud, who is a budget consultant, stated that many households will have difficulty paying the bills in the future. Nearly 30 percent of them highlighted the difficulty ban on this issue last month.