Title: Haymaker Daily — Europe, Energy & (Literal) Russian Roulette Show: Haymaker Daily (Substack) Guest: David Hay (The Haymaker Team) Date: 2026-JUL-23 URL: https://haymaker.substack.com/p/haymaker-daily-bce Note: Written post, full text verbatim (captured via logged-in session). Macro-only — no named securities. The post references a bar chart of European gas storage from energy analyst John Kemp (image not captured). The URL slug "bce" is an unrelated Substack slug artifact — the post does NOT mention BCE Inc. Not investment advice.
Hello, Haymakers:
After Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, imperiling Europe's vast Russian gas imports, six European countries responded by building makeshift LNG export facilities, almost overnight, in order to bring in gas, mostly from the U.S. Several also resorted to burning greatly increased quantities of coal, as well as wood pellets (also shipped in from the USA). Germany was particularly aggressive in turning to these dirtiest forms of producing power.
By the end of 2023, Europe had built up its stored natural gas to near-peak levels going back to 2011. In fact, in November of that year, its gas storage hit the highest on record.
It was aided in this effort by a warm winter that year. Since then, the weather has continued to be mostly above normal. This could be interpreted as proof of global warming. Or... it could be simply another phase in the planet's highly variable weather patterns.
Regardless, as shown in the above bar chart, from top energy analyst John Kemp, Europe's gas in storage is near the lowest of the last 15 years. Considering the escalating hostilities and threats to energy shipments in the Middle East, including LNG, an average winter, and, especially, a severe one, could prove extremely problematic for the Continent.
With U.S. LNG exports close to maxed out at this point, and Asia also in dire need of frozen gas, European authorities may soon regret having sported such a blasé attitude about their recurring energy needs. This includes an inexplicably hostile attitude toward nuclear power plants, particularly — once again — in Germany.
The Haymaker Team