IEA chief Fatih Birol in warning over European fuel storage

The manager director of the Worldwide Power Company on Wednesday mentioned that whereas Europe’s fuel storage for this winter was practically full, the next one may pose a big problem.

Taking questions following a gathering of the Financial Council of Finland, Fatih Birol mentioned near 90% of fuel storage was full in Europe.

“I’d have most well-liked that the European nations had been far more nimble, a lot … sooner, to react to our suggestions,” he advised reporters, referencing the IEA’s 10-point plan on how one can scale back Europe’s reliance on Russian fuel following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“However the place we’re shouldn’t be unhealthy and I anticipate if there aren’t any surprises — political and technical surprises — and if the winter … is a traditional winter, Europe can undergo this winter with some bruises right here and there, however we will come to February and March.”

At this level, Birol mentioned storage ranges will probably have dropped to between 25% and 30%. “So the query is, how can we go from 25% or 30% to, as soon as once more, [for the] 2023 winter … 80-90%?”

“What helped us this time, [is that] we nonetheless imported some fuel from Russia in the previous couple of months,” he mentioned. As well as, China had imported “much less fuel than it might have in any other case” resulting from what Birol known as “very sluggish financial efficiency.”

The state of affairs, Birol, mentioned, may change in 2023, particularly with regard to China. “Subsequent yr, if Chinese language fuel imports improve with the Chinese language economic system coming again, will probably be [a] quite tough few months ranging from March to subsequent winter.”

“So this winter is tough, however subsequent winter may additionally be very tough as effectively,” he mentioned, including that preparations for the latter interval wanted to begin at this time.

Birol’s feedback come at a time when Europe is scrambling to shore up vitality provides because the warfare in Ukraine continues.

Russia was the most important provider of each petroleum oils and pure fuel to the EU final yr, based on Eurostat, however in a report printed on Monday, the IEA mentioned fuel exports from Russia to the European Union had seen a big decline this yr.

“Regardless of obtainable manufacturing and transport capability, Russia has diminished its fuel provides to the European Union by near 50% y-o-y because the begin of 2022,” the Paris-based group’s newest Fuel Market Report mentioned.

“Within the present context, the entire shutdown of Russian pipeline fuel provides to the European Union can’t be excluded forward of the 2022/23 heating season — when the European fuel market is at its most weak,” the report added.

In an indication of how difficult the present state of affairs is, vitality agency Orsted lately introduced it might proceed or restart operations at three fossil gasoline amenities after being ordered by Danish authorities to take action.

In an announcement over the weekend, Orsted — whose greatest stakeholder is the Danish state — mentioned the path had been made “to make sure the safety of the electrical energy provide in Denmark.”

A number of days earlier than Orsted’s announcement, one other massive European vitality agency, Germany’s RWE, mentioned three of its lignite, or brown coal, models would “briefly return to [the] electrical energy market to strengthen safety of provide and save fuel in energy era.”

RWE mentioned every of the models had a 300-megawatt capability. “Their deployment is initially restricted till 30 June 2023,” it added.