The European Commission is considering keeping the EU natural gas price cap in place for a longer period, sources told the Business Journal Financial Times. Because of the war in Israel, the committee fears that gas prices will rise sharply again this winter.

The situation in Israel has created a lot of uncertainty about gas supplies from the Middle East. In addition, the alleged sabotage of a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia earlier this month also raises concerns about the stability of gas supplies to Europe.

In February, the European Commission imposed a price cap to combat rising gas prices. Russian gas supplies have fallen sharply since the war in Ukraine. The price of gas has risen since then.

The current ceiling is 180 euros per megawatt hour. The ceiling comes into effect if the gas price exceeds the cap for three or more business days and the price is also at least 35 euros above the global LNG target price for three days.

Germany and France urge Financial Times They also jointly call for keeping state aid grant rules broad for longer. This allows governments to provide citizens and businesses with energy subsidies.

Outgoing Energy Minister Rob Gitten told the same newspaper that money allocated for energy subsidies could be better used to “address the issue.” The Minister refers, for example, to energy saving measures.