Europe needs to take urgent action to avoid a natural gas shortage next year given the loss of supplies from Russia and expectations of rising demand from China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, Reuters reported.

“The fact that this winter may not be as challenging as we feared a couple of months ago does not justify complacency for next winter,” Fatih Birol, head of the IEA said. “There is a looming risk . . . We think gas markets will still be tight and volatile. This is an alarm bell for next winter as we believe we need to take immediate action now to avoid a shortage next year.”

The report said Europe could face natural gas shortages of up to 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) during the summer period of lower demand, which is crucial for replenishing its gas storage capacity in 2023. According to Birol, this gap could result in storage capacity being only 65 percent full by next winter instead of the target of 95 percent.

The European Union had managed to fill its storage facilities to 95 percent by this winter, which is 5 percent or 5 billion cubic meters above their 5-year average.