And there was a toilet paper shortage not that long ago, artificially created, and done by mass hysteria.
The russians have a name for these people, it's UI or useful idiots.
We are prepared, the gas storage in Germany is 80% full, and it's enough for months. The only loosing method for us is to change policies. Otherwise let the Ukranians and Lockheed Martin and the others take care of the situation.
I'm not sure about the UK though. You guys seems to be perfectly capable to shooting yourself in the foot for no reason every time.
To be clear I'm fully in support of Ukraine and if it means high gas prices, so be it. However I know the average person in the UK may be lucky to have £100 to their name by the end of the month - they simply cannot afford a £500/m energy bill. Therefore I wonder if the resolve in Europe and UK will begin to crumble.
If, indeed, it is just a short term hike in prices, and in a year or two things return to normal, then I think it could be managed. Support can be given to those on the lowest incomes, and businesses will just have to be frugal with gas. Inevitably there will be some economic shrinkage, but I don't think it will be a total disaster as some have predicted.
However, if the war in Ukraine drags on for half a decade, as some have suggested, then it becomes a lot more existential for the EU. The absolute earliest Germany will have enough LNG *terminals* is 2027 and there's an even longer lead time on the ships.
The UK is currently bringing the Rough storage facility back online but still we will have under a month of storage. However we do have three LNG terminals, which are regularly used and have contracts for supply set up already. This is probably one reason why the gas price in the UK has not risen as high as it has in the EU, in relative terms to the 2019 average. (It is about 12x for UK, 18x for EU.)