According to European Commissioner Kadri Simson, if consumption is reduced the EU will save another 65 billion cubic meters by March 2024, but it will not be possible to reduce gas consumption by another 15%, as was achieved last year. Both industry and the population have almost exhausted the possibilities for further savings.
In the first half of 2023, gas demand in the EU fell by 30 billion cubic meters. Thus, for Simson’s predictions to become a reality, Europeans must save in the coldest months, no less than last year’s winter, which had record-high temperatures.
So far, the European Copernicus Center is predicting above-normal temperatures in October and generally mild weather in Western Europe until the end of December. But it is still unknown what the weather will be like in the traditionally cold months of January and February.
The EU has announced its intention to completely abandon the purchase of fossil fuels in Russia by 2027. He admitted that it will be impossible to do without Russian hydrocarbons in the next three to four years.