Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has fallen from 40% before the war to 10%, says the director of the IMF’s European Department
Certain risks remain for Europe’s energy security in the upcoming 2023/24 winter season, but they are lower than last winter and mainly related to pricing rather than the availability of the necessary energy resources. This was said by the Director of the European Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Alfred Kammer, writes Interfax-Ukraine.
“The risks are lower than before (…) mainly because of a very strong political reaction from European politicians: the proposal to replace Russian gas supplies has increased. The system has become more integrated -together,” he said at a press conference in Washington.
Declining demand in Europe and higher levels of winter stocks also helped, he said.
“It also puts less pressure on the market to replenish stocks in the summer that are then used in the winter,” he said.
Cummer added that last year’s energy purchases were helped by the current ongoing lockdown in China, and this year there is a risk that a larger recovery in China could put price pressure there.
“But we do not expect in 2023/24 the same supply concerns that we had in 2022/23 because Europe is in a better position to diversify production as well as gas imports and part of the decrease in demand for Russian oil. Most of the oil has been replaced by other imports, and we do not expect serious shocks from this side for European economies,” said Kammer .
He also added that Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has fallen from 40% before the war to 10%.
It was previously reported that in Europe, gas withdrawals from UGS facilities jumped to a 10-year high.
Gas in Ukraine fell in price to the lowest for the year
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Source: korrespondent
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