GVS had asked Wolfgang to write a ‘Gastkommentar’ (guest commentary) in its monthly ‘Gasmarkt-Telegramm’ (www.gvs-erdgas.de). The article puts in writing the messages from the most recent presentations, e.g. at the ’23. Euroforum-Jahrestagung (Erd-)Gas 2017’ in Berlin, on 15 November 2017 and the 5^th Frankfurt Gas Forum’ in Frankfurt on 13 December 2017: Read more The emergence of a global gas market, with destination flexible LNG supply able to respond to price signals, liquid European hubs capable of sending price signals and ample unutilized LNG regasification capacity to receive LNG thus attracted, has transformed previous bi-lateral physical dependencies into a functionality of price signals. Hence, the previous ‘Putin-phobia’ (an expression coined by Jonathan Stern: ‘The future of gas in decarbonizing European energy markets: the need for a new approach’, by Jonathan Stern, January 2017, OIES Paper NG 116, www.oxfordenergy.org) was no longer warranted and the traditional gas-economical paradigm of security of supply needed to be re-visited.

The renowned expert on gas markets, Dr. Heiko Lohmann, conducted an interview with Wolfgang (available both in German and English) on a long list of subjects, Read more straddling long-term contracts in the face of oil- and gas price decoupling, the emergence of hubs, but also the reasons for the failure of Nabucco and, last but not least, Nordstream 2 and, in this context, the need to apply the rule of law in Europe instead of politicizing.

The article, which received wide attention and distribution, including the posting on various websites, is a further refined and elaborated version of the previous article published for the Euroforum Newsletter in August 2016. Read more

As a contribution to the Euroforum Newsletter published along the ‘22^nd Euroforum Jahrestagung “Erdgas 2016’, Wolfgang discusses the implications of COP21 Read more , namely what he qualifies as the “affordable subsidy constraint” for countries absent grid parity of renewables. He demonstrates that immediate and material effects for the carbon budget can be achieved by expanding the role of gas in the fuel mix.

As a contribution to the Euroforum Newsletter published along the 19^th Handelsblatt Jahrestagung – Energiewirtschaft Österreich 2015‘ in Vienna, on 12 November 2015, Wolfgang discusses the various ‘cycles’ that have been seen around price revisions in the context of oil and gas price decoupling. Read more