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“Europe must prepare for a complete interruption of Russian gas”: word from the International Energy Agency

Europe should prepare for a complete suspension of Russian natural gas supplies, the head of the International Energy Agency said in an interview with the Financial Times.

"Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off," Fatin Birol told the FT . "The closer we get to winter, the more we understand Russia's intentions," he added. "I believe that the cuts are aimed at preventing Europe from filling up stocks and increasing Russia's power in the winter months."

To counter the worst effects of such a scenario, Birol advised European governments to keep nuclear power plants running and to take other emergency measures as well. These other emergency measures seem to focus on demand.

"I believe that as winter approaches, European governments will take ever deeper measures on demand," Birol told the FT, adding that gas rationing is a real possibility in the event of further cuts in Russian gas supplies. .

In the past three months, Russia has cut off supplies to several European countries that have refused to pay for gas in rubles. It also substantially reduced the flow along the Nord Stream, effectively cutting off supplies to France and reducing flows to Germany by around 60%.

Gazprom and its equipment maintenance provider Siemens Energy blamed the reduction on a delay in turbine delivery due to new Canadian sanctions against Moscow. Germany blamed Gazprom.

The largest economy in the European Union risks a certain recession if Russian gas flows were to stop completely, an industry body warned this week. The BDI cut its growth forecast for Germany to 1.5% from 3.5% for this year and said that if Russia cuts off gas, the economy will inevitably slide into a recession.

Meanwhile, to compensate for the loss of gas supply, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are restarting coal-fired power plants. Birol of the IEA defended the move in his FT interview, saying the restart is temporary and that whatever the increase in emissions, it will be offset by future renewable energy capacity.


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The article "Europe must prepare for a complete interruption of Russian gas": word of the International Energy Agency comes from ScenariEconomici.it .


This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/leuropa-deve-prepararsi-a-una-interruzione-completa-del-gas-russo-parola-di-agenzia-internazionale-per-lenergia/ on Thu, 23 Jun 2022 13:47:00 +0000.