EU commission sees problems with natural gas supply next year Russia reduces nuclear threats – here are the possible reasons

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has pointed to difficulties in supplying natural gas for the coming year. It is already foreseeable that in 2023 it will be more difficult than this year to fill the gas storage facilities in the EU.

“By spring at the latest, we have to take into account three other factors that are against us”, the German politician said in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday. In particular, there is a risk that Russia will completely stop the already severely limited gas supply to Europe.

It is also clear that the global liquefied gas capacity next year will not be sufficient to fill this gap. In addition, it must be assumed that there will be a high demand for liquefied gas when the economy in Asia picks up again. In China, energy demand is currently relatively low as the economy suffers from a strict zero-covid strategy.

Von der Leyen also stressed that the aforementioned problems could lead to Europe missing some 30 billion cubic meters of liquid gas by the end of next summer to bring storage tanks to current levels. “We have to act and we have to be prepared for it,” emphasized von der Leyen. But we are well prepared for the coming winter.

(yam/sda/awp/dpa)