Gasoline prices in Europe, Asia and North America have risen by 30-50 percent this year, and there is potential for further growth as the winter turns colder than usual, Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire reports. Politics.rs. Moreover, even if the weather is moderately cold, countries in Europe and Asia will want to replenish their rapidly depleting gas storages so that gas demand will be stable. North Asia, Europe and North America account for more than two-thirds of the world's gas consumption, most of which is used in power plants. As forecasters predict a colder winter than the past two
(South Korea, Germany and Italy are already expecting below-average temperatures), it will take a lot of gas.
Currently, Europe's underground gas storage reserves are at their lowest level since 2021 (the last year the EU bought large quantities of cheap gas from Russia).

From October 1 to November 30, gas reserves in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France together fell by 11 percent. In the United States, underground gas reserves are at the highest level in the last five years, but the states must survive December. U.S. underground gas storage declines by an average of nine percent in the last five weeks of each year.
Asia is another story. Most Asian countries can use both gas and coal for power plants. And with the increase in the price of gasoline, they will probably switch to
coal-fired thermal power plants.

However, given the colder winter and the fact that Asia is the region that consumes the most gas, prices continue to rise. In Japan, electricity from gas-fired power plants is already 44 percent more expensive than electricity from coal-fired power plants.