Amid the energy squeeze, governments across Europe are striving to ensure energy security at any cost. Among them is the Czech government, which pledged to “burn everything” to keep people warm.
“If there is a gas cut out this winter, we will burn anything we can to keep our people warm and to make electricity,” Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech Ambassador-at-Large for energy security, said. Bartuska compared the energy situation in the country to the 1973 oil shock, when OPEC member states imposed an embargo on countries supporting Israel in its war against Syria and Egypt.
“We don’t know whether we will be able to move in the timeframe we agreed on in Versailles in March of this year, to phase out Russian oil and gas and everything else by 2027. Or whether Russia will shut out gas before the winter, during the winter or at any other time,” he added.
Bartuska stated that diversification of gas supply will be possible if European importers sign long-term contracts with producers of liquified natural gas. “We talked to possible suppliers of LNG, and they all wanted long-term contracts – 20 or 15 years, but most of them 20,” he said.
