Europe must prepare for a tougher winter next year due to the “gas crisis,” Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol warned on Saturday.

“I commended the EU efforts to overcome the gas crisis this winter, but next winter will be even tougher. And a new master plan for the European industry is urgently needed,” Birol wrote on Twitter.

Very pleased to join President @vonderleyen 🇪🇺, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck 🇩🇪 & @BillGates at #MSC2023

I commended the EU's efforts to overcome the gas crisis this winter, but next winter will be even tougher. And a new masterplan for European industry is urgently needed. pic.twitter.com/sUb0kwjpIv

— Fatih Birol (@fbirol) February 17, 2023
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year, the EU has implemented a package of economic sanctions against Russia. However, due to the backlash effect of the EU sanctions, the supply situation in Europe has become tense, and the energy and commodity prices have soared.

In its latest report, French multinational electric utility company EDF reported a net loss of EUR 17.9 bn in 2022, its worst loss in more than two decades.

Forced to buy energy to make up for shortages in the French market due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Western sanctions against Russia, the EDF spent EUR 121 bn on energy procurement alone in 2022, three times the amount it spent in 2021.

France became a net importer of electricity in 2022 for the first time since 1980, according to the data released by the country’s power transmission power operator RTE on Thursday.