IEA warns against gas complacency, but how credible is the threat?

The International Energy Agency’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Monday during a joint conference with president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen that the EU may need to spend €100 billion to avoid gas shortages from further cuts to Russian supply, but that it would pay for itself within 2 years through lower energy bills. Birol went on to say that since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Russia’s output of natural gas to Europe fell from 140bcm down to 60bcm, and that there is the potential for Russia to cut gas supply altogether, Europe will then have to make up that difference through LNG imports and demand reductions before the next heating cycle next winter.…