If Europe were to no longer receive Russian gas, the first difficulties would appear with the filling of the tanks for next winter, warned Sunday the director general of Engie Catherine MacGregor in an interview with Les Echos.
“The real problem would be filling storage in spring and summer, in preparation for winter 2022-2023,” said the CEO of the French group. “It would be very difficult to find the necessary volumes and it would be very hard in the event of a long conflict in Ukraine”.
“In reality, we would then enter a new world for energy, under the effect of a physical shock and an unprecedented price shock which would undoubtedly transform the energy landscape in the long term”, analyzes Ms MacGregor.
“For the winter that is ending, there would be no supply problem, especially since it is rather mild. Even being completely deprived of Russian gas, we might cope thanks to the suppliers of other countries, by gas pipeline or by LNG tanker for LNG”, underlined the DG of Engie.
Fear of disruptions in exports from Russia, which supplies 40% of European gas imports, caused its price to soar in Europe to a new all-time high on Friday.
Russian gas represents 20% of Engie’s supplies. The group is negotiating additional volumes with Norway, the Netherlands, Algeria and the United States “but we must be lucid”, underlined Ms. McGregor: “the levers which are at our hand are of limited scope They won’t be enough to replace all the gas that comes from Russia today.”
In the event of a cut, “it is not unimaginable that the public authorities will put in place measures to limit demand”, underlined the DG of Engie. Both industrialists and citizens might also lower their consumption, in particular heating.
It would also be necessary to “cap wholesale gas prices in Europe, which would have the indirect merit of limiting electricity prices”, and accelerate in renewable energies, whether wind turbines or biomethane, according to Ms. MacGregor.
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