Konstantinos Xifaras, CEO of the Greek national gas company DEPA SA, charged that it has been the derivative speculation of the Dutch TTF, which is used to price gas, that is responsible for high gas prices. His accusation comes at a time when Greece is among the countries opposing the European Union’s proposal to cap Russian oil and gas prices. Greece, along with Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, among others, oppose the proposal since it would most likely lead to a cutoff of gas by Russia. That would virtually close down the Turkish Stream pipeline, which supplies Greece, the Balkans and Italy.
Pointing to the fact that it is not a gas shortage, but speculation that is responsible for high prices, Xifaras said, “The current supply of LNG in Europe, combined with the high levels of gas storage already achieved, should have led to lower price levels. We cannot accept the speculation caused by derivative trading that has led to excessively high gas prices that do not reflect the true cost of gas. The volume of gas traded on the TTF is 100 times greater than the volume of gas traded on the Dutch market.
