Europe faces tough winter with potential energy rationing, Shell CEO warns
Europe will face a tough winter with even higher energy costs, and governments may have to ration energy supplies in a worst case scenario, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden warned on July 14.
"We will be facing a really tough winter in Europe," van Beurden said. Prices will further climb, and "in a worst case, we will be in a situation where we have to ration."
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Europe is the epicentre of the global energy crisis, with recent cuts in Russian gas supply compounding a global shortage in production. There are mounting fears among European leaders that Russia's Gazprom could cut off shipments even further, in order to destabilise Europe and win concessions in the Ukraine crisis.
"For a long time, we thought it wasn't in Russia's interest to cut off Russia's largest market," van Beurden said in a conference in Oxford, England. "He nevertheless is ready and willing to weaponise energy supplies."
Germany and several other European countries are already discussing potential rationing of energy supply, but for the time being, governments are only calling on the public to use less energy.