The European Commission on Saturday asked member states to reduce their gas supply targets for next winter in order to mitigate pressure on prices, which are soaring due to the war in the Middle East.
In a message addressed to the Member States of the European Union, consulted by AFP, the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, highlighted “the considerable impact” of the current conflict in the Middle East on world oil and gas markets and suggested the use of “flexibilities” authorized by European legislation.
Specifically, he called for a reduction from the usual 90% to 80%.
“Recent developments indicate that it may take longer for Qatar’s liquefied natural gas production to return to pre-crisis levels,” the commissioner predicted.
At this stage, he highlighted, the supply of the European Union (EU) is “relatively protected”, due to the “limited dependence on imports from” the Middle East and the cargo of liquefied natural gas that crossed the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict.
However, the confrontation is causing “high and volatile prices”, which “could also affect gas injections into EU stocks”, he estimated.
The attacks on the largest producer of liquefied natural gas in the world, in Ras Laffan, Qatar, raised the specter of a gas crisis like the one that took place at the beginning of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine in 2022.
Lusa
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