Shell CEO: Europe Faces Long-Term Pain From Energy Crisis

Date: 23 October 2022 - 21:16

News ID: ۱۰۸۱۳۴

DOHA (Dispatches) – Europe faces painful “industrial rationalization” due to its energy crisis that risks political trouble, the head of Shell warned Sunday, as the oil giant joined a natural gas project in Qatar.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden agreed a deal for a 9.3 percent stake in Qatar Energy’s North Field South project, that will play a major role in the Persian Gulf state’s effort to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) production by 50 percent in the next five years.

At the signing ceremony in Doha, van Beurden said European industry face taking a major hit from the energy crisis, worsened by the Russian war on Ukraine.

Europe has reduced consumption “quite effectively, quite significantly” following the loss of 120 million tonnes of Russian gas a year, van Beurden said, but “a lot of this reduction is achieved by switching off industry”.

Europe has desperately searched for quick alternatives to Russian gas, but van Beurden said Europe would need large amounts of LNG for decades.

“A lot of people say, turn down the thermostat, or maybe don’t switch on the air conditioning,” he said.

“But there is also ‘why don’t we switch off the fertilizer plant that we have’ or ‘let us scale down on some petro chemicals production in general’. And that rationalization, if it goes on long enough, becomes permanent.”

The Shell chief, who will retire at the end of the year, said industrial cuts could spark some “rejuvenation”, but also brought risks.

French Chateaux Brace for

Huge Heating Bills

Energy bills in France are expected to soar compared to last year, partly as a result of a hike in gas prices following the war in Ukraine.

The prospect is particularly worrying owners and directors of large historical buildings dotted along the Loire.

Usually, Xavier Leleve pays 15,000 to 20,000 euros ($14,800 to $19,700) in heating, electricity and gas each winter to keep the Meung-sur-Loire castle up and running.

But this year, “it’ll be five to ten times more expensive. You simply can’t start spending that much on energy,” he said.

It would divert funds from other projects, including the much-needed conservation of some parts of the listed building.

In a wing of the castle closed off to the public, he pointed to the windows.

Some looked in bad shape, with duct tape covering some wooden frames and barely keeping out the outside cold.

Other windows were brand new, put in place after long discussions with the regional cultural authority on what they should look like to best respect the castle’s original aesthetics.

“A window costs around 10,000 euros and we have 148 of them, so you can imagine how much the window budget is,” said Leleve.

An hour’s drive away down the river, Charles-Antoine de Vibraye has decided the best course of action to keep his huge family home heated this winter is to do nothing at all.

The Cheverny chateau, which inspired Captain Haddock’s family estate in “The Adventures of Tintin”, has belonged to the same family for six centuries, its website says.