Europe Braces for Russia Gas Disruption This Week—and Years of Higher Energy Prices Ahead

By Bojan Pancevski in Berlin and Benoît Morenne in Houston

Aug. 30, 2022 7:26 am ET

Russia is ready to close its key Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline Wednesday for upkeep, leaving Europe guessing once more about whether or not provides will restart, as temperatures fall and demand for the gas grows.

Whatever the end result, European officers and vitality executives say the continent faces years of excessive vitality costs and doable shortages as efforts to exchange Russian imports conflict with restricted provides elsewhere and laws that discourage hydrocarbon utilization.