Oil CEOs say this winter is not the season to worry about when it comes to the energy crisis
PCK Schwedt oil refinery in Schwedt, Germany on Monday, May 9, 2022.
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Politicians and governments around the world are bracing for potential civil unrest as many countries grapple with mounting energy costs and rising inflation.
The global economy is facing an onslaught from multiple sides — a war in Europe, and shortages of oil, gas and food, and high inflation, each of which has worsened the next.
Concerns are centered on the coming winter, especially for Europe. Cold weather, combined with an oil and gas shortage stemming from Western sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, threatens to upend lives and businesses.
But as much concern as there is ahead of this winter, it’s really the winter of 2023 that people should be worried about, major oil and gas executives have warned.
Energy prices “are approaching unaffordability,” with some people already “spending 50% of their disposable income on energy or higher,” BP CEO Bernard Looney told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble during a panel at the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi.
We are in good shape for this winter. But as we said, the issue is not this winter. It will be the next one, because we are not going to have Russian gas.
Claudio Descalzi
CEO of Eni
But through a combination of high gas storage levels and government spending packages to subsidize people’s bills, Europe may be able to manage the crisis this year.
“I think it has been addressed for this winter,” Looney said. “It’s the next winter I think many of us worry, in Europe, could be even more challenging.”
The CEO of Italian oil and gas giant Eni expressed the same worry.
For this winter, Europe’s gas storage is around 90% full, according to the International Energy Agency, providing some assurance against a major shortage.
But a large proportion of that is made up of Russian gas imported in previous months, as well as gas from other sources that was easier than usual to buy since major importer China was buying less due to its slower economic activity.
“We are in good shape for this winter,” Eni chief Claudio Descalzi said during the same panel. “But as we said, the issue is not this winter. It will be the next one, because we are not going to have Russian gas – 98% [less] next year, maybe nothing.”
Protests have already begun
This could lead to serious social unrest — already, small to medium-sized protests have cropped up around Europe.
Anti-government protests in Germany and Austria in September and in the Czech Republic last week — the latter of which has seen household energy bills surge tenfold — may be a small taste of what’s to come, analysts have warned. Some energy executives agreed.
Yes, there is a real risk that governments without a steady hand on policy shaping in Asia can deal with unrest.
Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik
CEO of Petronas
“We’ve seen that any shocks to the price at the pump, or something as simple as LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] for cooking, can cause unrest,” the CEO of Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik, said.
He described how a strengthening dollar and rising fuel prices pose a serious risk to many Asian economies – massive populations that are some of the biggest oil and gas importers in the world. And this is happening while subsidies are already in place to help ease prices for citizens.
Inflation in the euro zone remains extremely high. Protestors in Italy used empty shopping trolleys to demonstrate the cost-of-living crisis.
Stefano Montesi – Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images
Many Asian economies were already reeling from the pandemic, which caused “vast swaths of [small and medium enterprises] in Asia to just collapse,” Taufik said. “So, yes, there is a real risk that governments without a steady hand on policy shaping in Asia can deal with unrest.”
Anger at oil companies’ massive profits
Much of the anger of protesters is also directed at the energy companies, which have been making record profits as bills get higher and higher.
Responding to this, many of the CEOs who spoke to CNBC said it’s an issue of market supply and demand, and that it’s up to governments to implement policies more conducive to energy investment. That investment, they stressed, has taken a hit in recent years as countries push for the transition to renewables.
The world has to face “the practicalities and realities of today and tomorrow,” BP’s Looney said, stressing the need to “invest in hydrocarbons today, because today’s energy system is a hydrocarbon system.”
Many policymakers and institutions still decry the use of fossil fuels, warning the far bigger crisis is that of climate change. In June, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for abandoning fossil fuel finance, and called any new funding for exploration “delusional.”
The oil executives argued that this approach simply isn’t realistic, nor is it an option if countries want economic and political stability.
At the same time, however, they admitted that the energy transition itself does need greater focus and investment in order to avert a larger crisis next year and beyond, when there is no Russian gas in storage and other options are increasingly expensive.
“In Europe, we pay at least six, seven times to [as much as] 15 times the energy costs with respect to the U.S.,” ENI’s Descalzi said.
“So what we have done in Europe, each country, gave incentive subsidies to try to reduce the cost for industry and for citizens. How long that can continue?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s impossible that it can continue forever. All these countries have a very high debt,” he said. “So they have to find a structural way to solve this issue. And the structural way is what we said until now — we have to increase and be faster on the transition. That is true.”
“But,” he added, “we have to understand, from a technical point of view, what is affordable and what is not.”
![Chevy Bolt EUV goes full Boat Mode in Texas floodwaters [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/08/bolt_flood.png?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Electric cars don’t have intakes and exhausts, so they can’t get hydrolocked in deep water the way ICE-powered cars can – but that doesn’t make them amphibious. Nobody told this Texan Chevy Bolt EUV owner that, and when they got caught on the wrong side of the floodwaters, they licked the stamp and sent it!
The recent catastrophic flooding in Texas has brought unimaginable tragedies and hardships to thousands of people who unquestionably deserve better, and living through something like that can lead people to make some rash decisions (I made it through the aftermaths of Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, AMA). Rash decisions like pulling up to a tunnel flooded in nearly three feet of water, and deciding to stand on the gas.
Think I’m exaggerating? Watch this Chevy Bolt EUV go full “Boat Mode” as its driver decides that dealing with whatever unseen obstacle or deadly live wires concealed by the floodwaters are less annoying than having to find an alternative route for yourself.
Submerging an EV that wasn’t designed for it (or even a Cybertruck, which allegedly was), isn’t exactly advisable. In addition to the underwater threats, submerging the skateboard in water could damage sensitive electrical connectors, compromise battery seals, and cause shorts in circuit boards over time.
“Even more critically, water ingress into high-voltage systems can pose serious safety risks, including electrical faults or, in rare cases, thermal events,” writes Jonathan Lopez, over at GM Authority. “Although the Bolt EUV in this instance completed its soggy journey successfully, long-term effects may still emerge.”
In other words: don’t try this at home.
Electrek’s Take
Like, don’t try this at home … but it’s pretty awesome.
SOURCE | IMAGES: stormchaserhtx, via GM Authority.
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Georgia BRIGHT, a statewide initiative to deliver affordable solar, kicked off its “No-Cost Solar Plan” in Atlanta yesterday, giving qualified homeowners a shot at roughly 400 fully prepaid rooftop-solar systems with zero upfront or maintenance costs. However, Georgia Bright’s No-Cost Solar Plan may lose its $156 million in grant money if the EPA steals back the Solar for All program’s entire $7 billion, which funded it.
On Earth Day (April 22) 2024, the Georgia BRIGHT Communities Coalition, including lead applicant Capital Good Fund, along with coalition member cities, Atlanta, Savannah, and Decatur, and dozens of other Georgia stakeholders, was allocated $156 million from Solar for All to bring solar to thousands of households statewide between now and mid-2029.
Families that earn 80% or less of their county’s Area Median Income can enter a drawing for the No-Cost Solar Plan now; a second drawing for another 400 systems is set for spring 2026.
“As the cost of living increases across our most vulnerable communities, this program will deliver significant savings to the households that need it most,” said Alicia Brown, director of Georgia BRIGHT.
Those savings are already showing up. Pilot participant Christine Difeliciantonio saw her power bill plunge on her Columbus home from $224 in June 2024 to $50 in June 2025 after her panels came online, and she says the added resilience eases her mind during storms.
Nonprofits are benefiting, too. Trees Atlanta had 140 panels installed on their headquarters last November in the pilot program; the rooftop array went live in March and is on track to save about $3,000 a year, the carbon equivalent of planting 28,000 trees over 25 years.
What’s next for Georgia BRIGHT …
Georgia BRIGHT’s other programs in the works include its Residential Solar Savings Plan, offering custom rooftop installs with no upfront cost and guaranteeing households at least 20% savings on day one after factoring in the modest monthly payments. Georgia BRIGHT is also developing Community Benefit Solar, which lets businesses, houses of worship, and apartment buildings go solar so long as they share part of the financial benefits – think grocery gift cards, help with utility bills, discounted daycare, or rent relief – with eligible neighbors for five years. Finally, a Utility-Led Community Solar initiative will send grants to local utilities so they can run shared-solar programs designed specifically for low-income customers.
These programs really make a difference in a state like Georgia, which doesn’t offer any other solar incentives.
… if the EPA doesn’t steal its money
The New York Times reported today that the Trump-led EPA is drafting letters to claw back the entire $7 billion Solar for All pot from 49 states, plus 11 nonprofit groups and Native American tribes. The grant money was awarded under President Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. According to the Times‘ sources, the EPA plans to send termination notices this week, effectively erasing solar savings for nearly a million low-income families before the panels ever land on their roofs.
Legal groups are already gearing up for the fight. “If leaders in the Trump administration move forward with this unlawful attempt to strip critical funding from communities across the United States, we will see them in court,” Kym Meyer of the Southern Environmental Law Center told the Times.
If the EPA pulls the trigger on this cruel, senseless plan to steal solar from lower-income communities, it wouldn’t just kneecap Georgia’s new program – it would pull the rug out from under low-income solar projects nationwide. The fight over Solar for All is officially on. How about that energy emergency that Trump declared, eh?
Read more: This metro Atlanta factory roof is now a solar record-breaker
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Tesla is in trouble, facing down hundreds of millions in fines on a single Autopilot wrongful death claim, accusations of covering up evidence, and plummeting sales in Europe, China, and the US. But, hey – that’s no reason to NOT give Elon a $29 billion bonus, right? Find out more on today’s troubling episode of Quick Charge!
We’re also helping Costco celebrate the first half-birthday of its EV marketplace, where you can get a great deal on a new Chevy Silverado EV capable of going more than one thousand miles on a single charge [insert 400 pages of fine print and disclaimers here –Ed.].
Today’s episode is brought to you by Retrospec, the makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Quick Charge listeners can get an extra 10% off their next ride until August 14 with the exclusive code ELECTREK10, only at retrospec.com.
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