“Read Monmouth78’s post #3 above. As he points out, the existing price was subsidized. It is now being raised to the European market price.”
I don’t need to read it, because I trade the financial securities and am well aware of the day to day market prices of oil and gas. Yes, Russia subsidized its pricing of natural gas as a monopolist undercutting the competition in Europe and thereby discourage Europe from developing competitive sources as alternatives to the Russian supplies. Once the competition had been eliminated or strongly suppressed enough to make the European customers dependent upon the Russian subsidized pricing and volumes, Russia then used their monopoly position to raise their monopolized prices higher than would have existed had the competitors not been previously displaced by Russia’s subsidized supplies. Poland in particular and some other members of the EU have been working since the Russian interruption of supplies in 2009 to replace the Russian supplies at any cost to preserve their sovereign independence from Russian threats to further interrpt Russian supplies. It will take some time for the European market to replace the Russian supplies sufficiently for the market prices to normaliz again at the more natural lower pricing.
Meanwhile, the Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine has handed the Ukraine the legal right to void or suspend all contracts and seize all Russian assets, including the ~2 billion dollar accounts receivable owed by the Ukraine to Russia’s Gazprom, as belligerant properties and war reparations.
Like I said — the issue is complex. I was just trying to make one simple point, about one simple fact — the market price of gas in Europe.