Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on February 17 that next winter for the European Union (EU) will be more difficult than this one due to the gas crisis.
“I appreciated the efforts of the EU to overcome the gas crisis this winter, but next winter will be even harder,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
According to him, it is necessary to create a new master plan for European industry. However, the head of the IEA did not provide details.
Earlier, on February 14, Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University, told Izvestia that the energy crisis in Europe has not ended. According to him, European countries were lucky this winter with warm weather.
The European Commission on February 13 reported that in the winter of 2024, Europe may face a shortage of gas and rising prices for it.
On February 2, an expert from the Japanese publication Nihon Keizai, Ken Koyama, expressed the opinion that in 2023 it would be difficult for European states to provide themselves with the necessary gas reserves without supplies from the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that the cost of energy in the eurozone has somewhat stabilized, the refusal of Russian exports could make filling fuel storage facilities ahead of winter an extremely difficult task, he said.
Prior to this, on January 31, Fatih Birol said that Europe would have to reduce the level of gas consumption if it wants to avoid problems in the winter next year.
On January 28, the head of the oil and gas company Total in France, Patrick Pouyanne, expressed the opinion that the situation with LNG in the European Union could worsen in 2023. European companies will look for alternative gas suppliers, but it is not known how much more profitable their proposals will be, he added.
Prior to this, on November 3, the IEA published a report according to which Europe may face gas shortages by the start of the 2023/24 heating season.
Western countries decided to reduce their dependence on Russian energy resources against the backdrop of a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which was announced on February 24. However, as a result, a serious energy crisis began in the European region.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
