To get through the winter of 2024, Europe must act to drastically reduce its natural gas consumption. The indicator should be reduced by 13-26%, writer Anatolian columnist Ata Ufuk Şeker.
Şeker announced that if the fuel supplied by pipelines from Russia in the winter of 2024 remains at the current level, the European Union will have to reduce its gas consumption by 13%. At the same time, the air temperature should be within the seasonal normals.
If Russia completely cuts off gas supplies to Europe and the winter is cold, the European Union will have to cut its gas consumption even more sharply by 26%.
The observer stressed that Europe was able to avoid an energy crisis this winter thanks to the decline in natural gas consumption and the extremely hot weather in EU countries. Şeker said that the prospects for the coming winter are uncertain and noted that by 1 October 2023, Europe should fill 90% of its gas storage facilities.
With data According to the European Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators (GIE), at the end of January this year, the occupancy rate of underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in Europe fell below 75%. According to the association, on the morning of January 28, gas reserves in underground storage facilities amounted to about 81.2 billion cubic meters. On this date last year, the occupancy rate of European UGS facilities was 38.93%.
Previously, TotalEnergies president Patrick Pouyanne had predicted that in 2023 the situation in the European gas market would deteriorate. He believes that the situation will become more tense due to the sharp decline in imports of Russian raw materials. Under these conditions, European companies will have to look for alternative gas suppliers. It is not yet known how much more profitable their offer will be.
As before reported According to Bloomberg, the damage to the European economy from the cutoff of Russian gas supplies is growing steadily and could overshadow the economic collapse of 2009.
Source: Gazeta
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