German Economy Minister Robert Habeck expects gas prices to fall soon as Germany makes progress on its storage targets and will not have to pay the high prices currently being asked on the market, he said on Monday.

“As a result, the markets will calm down and fall,” he said, adding that they had recently risen due to high demand as well as market speculation, which could not be sustained in the long term. .

Gas storage facilities in Germany are almost 83% full and will reach 85% in early September, Habeck said at an energy event in Hamburg. Germany has set a target for gas storage levels to be 85% full by October 1 and 95% by November 1.

Habeck also reiterated that Germany will not allow a Lehman Brothers-like meltdown to occur in its gas market.

“I promise on behalf of the German government that we will always ensure the liquidity of all energy companies, that we do not have a Lehman Brothers effect on the market,” Habeck said, referring to the bank’s collapse. American investment, which helped trigger the 2008 financial crisis.

Russia’s oil output has exceeded expectations following the war in Ukraine, but Moscow will find it increasingly difficult to maintain production as Western sanctions begin to bite, the agency’s chief said on Monday. International Energy Agency (IEA).

“Without the (Western) companies, without the technology providers, without the service companies, it will be much more difficult for Russia to maintain production,” the chief told Reuters. from the IEA, Fatih Birol.

A team from the UN’s nuclear watchdog visited Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday, the agency’s chief said, as Russia and Ukraine traded bombing accusations in its surroundings, fueling fears of a radioactive disaster.

Captured by Russian troops in March but ruled by the Ukrainian General Staff, Zaporizhzhia was a flashpoint in a conflict that turned into a war of attrition fought mainly in eastern and southern Ukraine six months after Russia launched its invasion.

“We must protect the safety and security of the largest nuclear facility in Ukraine and Europe,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on Twitter. .

A team of IAEA inspectors he leads will arrive at the plant on the Dnipro River near the front lines in southern Ukraine this week, Grossi said, without specifying the day of their arrival. .

The IAEA tweeted separately that the mission would assess physical damage, assess the conditions under which personnel work at the plant and “determine the functionality of safety and security systems”. It would also “perform urgent safeguards activities,” a reference to tracking nuclear materials.

EU energy ministers will hold urgent talks on September 9, a Czech minister said on Monday, as prices soar across Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I call a special meeting of the Energy Council. We will meet in Brussels on September 9,” ​​Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela said on Twitter.

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