Europe must act to prevent a deficit of natural gas next year, warned the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday, 3 November.
Europe has a shortage of 30 billion m3 of gas necessary to fuel the economy and fill the storage facilities in summer 2023. This risks putting at risk Europe’s preparations for the winter of 2023-2024, IEA explains.
The agency explains that this deficit is possible if Russia completely halts supplies of gas through the pipelines and China increases imports of liquefied natural gas. Europe has plans to replace Russian gas with supplies of liquefied natural gas.
So far this year Moscow has supplied 60 billion m3 of gas to the Europe. According to IEA, it is unlikely Russia will be able to supply the same volume next year. It is entirely possible supplies may cease entirely.
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