EXPLAINER: How Europe is trying to deal with its gas crisis

It all raises the question: How exactly is Europe, which imports most of its energy, going to make it through the winter without a gas disaster, especially if the season turns out to be colder or longer than usual?Here’s how the European Union, home to 447 million people, will try to deal with the crisis: THE PROBLEM IS LOW STORAGE LEVELS: Utilities turn to gas stored in underground caverns to handle sudden additional demand for gas for heating or electricity. EUROPE IS RELYING ON HIGH PRICES ATTRACTING MORE SUPPLY: Analysts at Rystad Energy used ship-tracking data last month to watch 11 tankers bringing liquid natural gas, or LNG, to Asia make U-turns in the middle of the ocean to take advantage of lucrative sales in Europe. With prices so high, traders were tempted to divert cargoes to Europe even if they had to offer 100% of the price as compensation, analysts at data firm Energy Intelligence said.“I wouldn’t say that LNG is 100% enough, but it will play a very important role” in Europe’s energy solution, said Xi Nan, head of liquid natural gas markets at Rystad.