European gas shortages likely to last several winters, says Shell chief
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 consumers facing huge bills and the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s.
Speaking at a press conference in Norway on Monday, Ben van Beurden said the situation could persist for several years. “It may well be that we will have a number of winters where we have to somehow find solutions,” he said.
Van Beurden said solutions to the energy crisis would have to 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.
Russia, the major supplier of gas to most of the EU before the war in Ukraine, has throttled exports in response to western sanctions imposed since Vladimir Putin’s invasion six months ago. While not all EU countries are directly reliant on Russian supplies, competition for scarce resources has pushed wholesale European gas prices up by a factor of 12 compared with a year ago.
Britain sources little of its gas directly from Russia, although is exposed to soaring prices on the wholesale market. Liz Truss, who is likely to be the
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