The EU’s energy commissioner has warned the bloc was headed for a tough winter with “very high” oil and gas prices owing to the US-Iran war, but did not forecast security of supply issues.
“There’s no doubt that we are approaching a winter that’s going to be challenging,” Dan Jorgensen told reporters after a meeting of energy ministers in Dublin, proposing a one-year delay to new rules curbing methane emissions in a bid to “relax” pressure on energy markets.
The European Commissioner for Energy and Housing said times are serious and the EU has now passed the point where it has paid €100bn extra for its energy this year without receiving one extra molecule of gas or oil.
This is due to higher international oil and gas prices due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Commissioner was speaking at the informal EU Energy Ministers meeting taking place at Dublin Castle.
He said the fact that European countries have paid €100bn for no additional energy shows how bad and unsustainable for Europe to be dependent on energy sources from other places in the world.
“We used to be dependent of Russia, but thankfully we are now getting out of that.
“Nonetheless, it is still the case that when prices go up on the global market, it hurts our citizens and it hurts our industries,” he said.
“For me, the conclusion is very clear. We need to get out of that dependency. We need to replace the imported, polluting, expensive molecules that are fossil fuels with homegrown energy and green electrons,” he added.
The Commissioner said this is way he put forward an EU electrification action plan earlier this year, and why he is also negotiating a new grid package that will make sure EU countries are connected in a way that makes the transformation as cheap and as fast as possible for EU citizens and industries.
