Page 9 - ITAtube Journal 2 2025

Market information
Natural gas is one of the most important
energy sources. The exploration and trans-
port of natural gas represents an impor-
tant market segment for tubular products.
Despite eff orts to avoid its usage to reduce
CO2 emissions, it plays an important role
for many industrial applications. There-
fore, the natural gas price still plays an
important role about competitiveness of
Figure 1: Selected spot prices of industrial electrical energy
until July 2025 in €/MWh
Source: Statista.com, Kallanish, com
The availability of economical energy is a
decisive factor for the industry. Therefore,
we are monitoring the energy cost in
selec-ted regions around the world
(Figure 1).
Geopolitical turbulences and political
regulations as well as the energy sources
are taken infl uence on the cost of electri-
cal energy. The prices for electrical energy,
after turbulent periods, are very volatile
and reported at levels of about 15-170 €/
MWh depending on the country (Figure
1). This corresponds not only to a huge
price increase in the last 20 years but also
results in major economic uncertainties
for the energy intensive industry! Even
within Europe the prices are very diff er-
ent and increasing (Figure 2). Sweden,
France and Spain are comparably better
positioned than Italy and Germany. Some
countries with larger nuclear energy
sources, like e.g. France and/or other
base-load energy sources at reasonable
cost like Sweden, still have cost advan-
tages. Considering on the other side
for example US-Texas with an electrical
energy cost level of about 70-80 €/MWh,
which is about 30% lower than most Euro-
pean cost levels and the imposed tariff s
is becoming more attractive for tubular
investments. The new US government,
although the US already having favoura-
ble energy costs, has announced to take
actions to further reduce energy cost.
Countries like Saudi Arabia are even off er-
ing electrical energy at 40 €/MWh or less!
It will even become more unbalanced if
some more European punitive regulations
or network costs become eff ective. This
widening cost gap is increasingly forcing
companies to relocate their production
facilities to countries with more attractive
energy cost levels. The industrial land-
scape of the energy intensive industry is
already taking consequences, which will
Figure 2: Selected European prices of industrial electrical energy 2024 in €/MWh
Source: GMK. Centerchange the entire industrial landscape
if appropriate countermeasures are not
taken. Since the energy intensive industry
industrial processes. The gas price had a
is mostly the initial process step in the
sharp downturn in 2025 from about 4,5 to
industrial production chain, this uncer-
3 USD/MMBtu by the end of March 2025
tainty endangers in regions with high
(Figure 3).
electrical cost also many downstream
Since then, the price for natural gas is
industries with signifi cant contribution to
quite volatile fl uctuating between 3-4 USD/
national GDP´s and employment rates.
ITAtube Journal August 2025 9