IEA urges Europe to take immediate action to prepare for next winter
The International Energy Agency (IEA) urged Europe not to make optimistic forecasts for gas reserves in underground storage facilities and to take immediate action to avoid risk of natural gas shortage next winter, RIA Novosti reports
It is noted that gas storage sites in the European Union are now 95 percent full – putting them 5 percent above the five-year average fill level.
“But the report [of the IEA] cautions that the cushion provided by current storage levels, as well as recent lower gas prices and unusually mild temperatures, should not lead to overly optimistic conclusions about the future,” the IEA message reads.
The agency’s release contains the following forecast, “Europe could face a gap of as much as 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas during the key summer period for refilling its gas storage sites in 2023, highlighting the need for urgent action by governments to reduce gas consumption amid the global energy crisis.”
