European Union energy ministers are gathering in Luxembourg on Thursday to address surging fuel prices and supply constraints brought on by the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East. As part of the emergency effort to stabilize costs, the European Commission began meetings with refinery operators on Wednesday to explore ways to increase fuel production, including the possibility of relaxing certain technical specifications for processed oil products.
The crackdown on energy security comes after Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned that roughly 25% of the EU’s refineries have shut down over the last two decades, reducing domestic processing capacity by about 10%. This decline has left the bloc increasingly reliant on imports, most notably diesel from the U.S., and vulnerable to volatility that drove benchmark natural gas prices to €100 per megawatt hour on Wednesday, the highest level since the 2022 energy crisis.