This warning raises the prospect of continued rationing, as Total boss says, Europe has to plan for a future without Russian supplies!
Gas shortages across Europe are likely to last for several winters to come, the chief executive of Shell has said, raising the prospect of continued energy rationing as governments across the continent push to develop alternative supplies.
Cuts to the supply of Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine have plunged European countries into a devastating energy crisis, driving up wholesale prices to leave businesses and consumers facing huge bills and the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s.
Van Beurden said solutions to the energy crisis would have to be found through “efficiency savings, through rationing and a very, very quick buildout of alternatives”.
“That this is going to be somehow easy, or over, I think is a fantasy that we should put aside,” he added.
His comments come as Europe’s biggest economies brace for a tough winter of soaring inflation and the threat of recession, as record increases in gas and electricity bills pile pressure on households and businesses across the continent.
Speaking on Monday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said a package of emergency measures would be unveiled soon. Speaking in Slovenia as EU officials work on a plan, which could be announced as early as this week, Von der Leyen said “emergency interventions” would be introduced in addition to longer-term energy market reforms.
“Skyrocketing electricity prices are now exposing, for different reasons, the limitations of our current electricity market design,” she said.
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