CERAWeek-Coming winters a worry, Europe relying on luck for energy security
(Reuters) Shell CEO Wael Sawan said on Thursday that the next few winters are a worry for energy supply in Europe and that the continent needed to move away from reliance on luck for energy security.
"We haven't structurally resolved the issues on energy security in Europe," Sawan said at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
Sawan said Europe must stop “depending on luck as a strategy” and focus on developing all forms of energy, especially natural gas, as it responds to the supply crunch caused by the war in Ukraine.
Shell’s new strategy will “play to our strengths” in providing all forms of energy, including oil and gas. The energy transition will be driven more by demand patterns rather than efforts to reduce or change supply, he said.
“Simply starving the world of that supply, that production of oil or for that matter for gas is going to result in the massive volatility and spikes in prices that we saw in 2021, exacerbating the issues we see right now with cost of living around the world,” Sawan said.
The company no longer has any ambition to become the largest power producer in the world, he said.
