War in Ukraine: without Russian gas, there will be a “real problem next winter”, says the director general – franceinfo

If ever the 27 EU states decide to stop gas imports, “energy prices would reach extremely high levels”, alert Monday March 7 on France Inter Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Engie. “We will be able to spend the winter, since winter is coming to an end. The real problem is in the medium term, that is to say for next winter, why? Because we use the summer to fill the storages”she says.

>> War in Ukraine: what does Russian gas weigh in Europe?

If a decision to stop the supply of gas from Russia is made “then the filling of these storages would be insufficient and we would not have enough gas compared to previous years”.

.@cathmacgregor : “.@cathmacgregor : “If a decision were to be taken to stop the supply” of gas from Russia, “then the filling” of our reserves “would be insufficient” for next winter, according to the general manager of Engie #le79inter ” #le79inter pic.twitter.com/FRLrCd0LrP

– France Inter (@franceinter) March 7, 2022

“This is an extreme scenario because there would be such volatility that the markets could stop working. That is why it is important to anticipate these measures”adds the director general of Engie. “That’s why we are putting measures on the table that would cap the rise in these gas prices,” explains Catherine MacGregor for whom these measures “are already anticipated by governments and public authorities because there is a list of things we could do to limit demand”.

Thus, in order to no longer depend on Russian gas, Catherine MacGregor pleads in particular for “accelerate biomethane and obviously renewable energies (…) Wind turbines are local energy and almost infinite resources (…) so we have to go, coal must remain taboo as much as possible” .

.@cathmacgregor : “Coal must remain taboo as much as possible, we must accelerate in biomethane and in renewable energies” #le79inter pic.twitter.com/qFmfOLsOec

– France Inter (@franceinter) March 7, 2022