The Head of the International Energy Agency says Europe may have done a good job in reducing its dependency on Russian oil and gas and mitigating an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, but it is “not out of the woods” yet.
“Europe was able to transform its energy markets, reduce its share of Russian gas to less than 4 per cent, and its economy still didn’t go through a recession,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director told CNBC’s Martin Soong.
“Europe emissions have declined and gas storage is at very decent levels,” Birol said, speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Russia has traditionally played a pivotal role in the world’s energy complex, but Western nations’ reliance on the country’s energy has been severely reduced as they continue to unveil new sanctions to punish Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“Europe countries did a good job last winter,” the IEA chief said, highlighting that the region managed to successfully keep the lights on and kept a winter crisis at bay, thanks in part to a milder-than-expected winter.
Birol warned that the region’s energy market still has three main hurdles to overcome this year, however.
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