“Nobody knows what the (price) developments will look like in the coming months. The national government is preparing for various scenarios, including the most negative,” said the spokesman in response to the concerns of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden.
Yet the ministry is less gloomy than Van Beurden. He states in De Telegraaf that the government is far too optimistic about the availability and affordability of LNG as an alternative to Russian gas. The government plans for significant energy savings and the use of energy from sun and wind will also be insufficient to meet the energy demand in an energy boycott against Russia, the CEO warns. He predicts continued high import prices for power plants and high electricity tariffs for Dutch consumers, he says in the newspaper.
The ministry agrees with Van Beurden that it is a “major challenge” to become independent from Russian energy. “The aim is to achieve independence from Russian energy, including gas, by the end of the year through supply and demand measures. Importing LNG is part of this, but not the whole solution. Security of supply has the full attention of the cabinet,” said a spokesperson for the ministry.
Reducing Russian dependency
Dependence on Russian energy will be reduced as soon as possible, as has been agreed in a European context. If Russia turns off the gas tap before Europe has an alternative, countries including the Netherlands “will probably activate their emergency plan in the long run.” That is the gas protection and recovery plan for the Netherlands.
The cabinet wants the Netherlands to be independent of Russian energy by the end of this year. It does this by now making maximum efforts to save energy, scaling up the production of sustainable energy more quickly, maintaining gas production in the North Sea and importing more energy (including gas) from other countries. “We are also taking measures to ensure that the gas storage facilities are sufficiently filled for the winter,” said the spokesperson.