Goldman Sachs: Blackout in Europe may occur this winter

Europe’s soaring energy markets are exposing the risk of power blackouts this winter, and especially if freezing weather worsens the region’s already exceptionally low natural gas inventories, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

While higher gas prices can trigger supply and demand adjustments to offset the tight market, these are largely already priced in, Goldman analysts, including Samantha Dart, said in a note. As a result, a colder-than-average winter would mean Europe needing to compete with Asia for supplies of liquefied natural gas, driving prices even higher.

And there’s a “non-negligible risk” that LNG directed to Europe won’t be enough to prevent depletion of gas inventories by the end of winter, especially if weather is cold in both Europe and Asia, the analysts said.