️ Europe is heading into the winter season with historically low natural gas reserves and lacks the resilience to withstand further disruptions in global supply chains, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) Chief Fatih Birol. Speaking in Berlin, Birol emphasized that energy disruptions stemming from the US-Israeli actions in the Middle East are severely impacting global markets, with the European region bearing the brunt of the vulnerability.

️ Birol stated that even if a ceasefire in the Gulf were achieved immediately, European consumers would still face escalating costs for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the months ahead. The IEA chief noted that EU natural gas storage facilities are currently filled at only 72 percent, a significant drop from the seasonal average of 90 percent. Analysts point out that this shortfall equates to the energy required to power up to 12 million homes, prompting the European regime to contemplate mandatory energy rationing for businesses and households.

️ The energy economist criticized Western governments for failing to implement proactive measures to bypass strategic chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and for prematurely pivoting away from reliable domestic energy baseloads. Furthermore, the disruption of refined petroleum products, exacerbated by ongoing conflicts and geopolitical hostilities, has triggered looming diesel shortages across the bloc's industrial and agricultural sectors.

️ Concluding his remarks, Birol lamented that geopolitics has increasingly overtaken the energy sector, transforming essential fuel commodities into tools of political leverage. He warned that with emergency buffers running dangerously low, the global energy system has very little margin for error should further crises unfold in the near future.

Source: www.aljazeera.com