Fossil Energy – Crisis
Europe could face several winters of gas shortage as a result of the cuts to Russian supplies, Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told a news conference in Norway on Monday.
“It may well be that we will have a number of winters where we have to somehow find solutions,” Van Beurden said.
Europe may be facing years of energy rationing and the need to find alternative supplies as its energy crisis worsens and Russia restricts natural gas flows, he said.
The continent is facing soaring natural gas prices, dwindling stockpiles, and the looming threat of further supply cuts from Russia as Gazprom readies for a three-day maintenance closure of Nord Stream 1 this week.
Altogether, the crisis will test ‘solidarity’ among EU member states, van Beurden said.
“It may well be that we have a number of winters where we have to somehow find solutions through efficiency savings, through rationing and a very, very quick buildout of alternatives,” he said. “That this is going to be somehow easy, or over, I think is a fantasy that we should put aside.”
European electricity prices have soared this year as energy commodities are cut off. The German baseload year-ahead power, Europe’s benchmark electricity price, is more than 1,400% higher than the average price between 2010 and 2020.
