LONDON — Within months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, there was near panic in Europe over energy supplies. Mainstay flows of natural gas through pipelines from Russia were dwindling to a relative trickle, pushing wholesale prices up more than 10 times the level of a year earlier. Oil prices were high. Lawmakers warned of fuel rationing and rolling blackouts, and winter loomed.
Now Europe has plenty of gas, much of it from Norway, the shale fields of Texas, and Qatar. The price has tumbled below preinvasion levels and has continued to slip lower almost daily. Oil prices appear steady. There’s no longer talk of imminent rationing.
