Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Al-Kaabi on Tuesday said that Europe is at risk of an energy crisis for the next winter after this coming winter depletes much gas in storage.

This year, Europe is doing relatively well in filling gas storage sites with overall gas storage was 92.37% full as of October 17.

Speaking to Financial Times, Al-Kaabi said that the problem with gas supply will worsen during the winter of 2023 and 2024 in the absence of much of the Russian import gas to Europe.

Al-Kaabi said that Europe will face gas supply problems even until 2025 sans Russian gas.

Various analysts and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have also warned that Europe could face gas shortages after the upcoming winter.

IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol had earlier said that Europe might likely be left with some gas in storage after the 2023 winter.

Europe has slapped sanctions on Russia, and immediately stopped importing gas in response to Moscow’s occupation of Ukraine. Europe is now looking to Qatar and Azerbaijan and other sources to address its gas needs.