The European Commission is asking member states to cut back on oil and gas usage, especially in the transportation sector, as the energy crisis and supply disruption related to the Iran war escalate.

In a letter to national energy ministers, EU energy chief Dan Jørgensen said that governments should consider ‘voluntary demand saving measures’, pointing to preparation for ‘prolonged disruption’ as the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for liquefied natural gas and crude oil supplies, remains closed. The proposal by the Commission came as EU energy ministers are set to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, 31 March, to discuss how to address the crisis.

In his letter, seen by POLITICO Brussels, Jørgensen said Europe’s transport sector faces rising costs and supply shortages due to the industry’s heavy reliance on the Persian Gulf, from which the EU sourced over 40 per cent of its jet fuel and diesel imports. According to the outlet, that could mean governments ‘asking citizens to drive or fly less to save fuel’ for ‘more essential purposes’, as is already happening in some Asian countries.

Jørgensen added that the growing shortage is compounded by the ‘limited availability of alternative suppliers and of refining capacity for specific products within the EU’.

‘Member States should refrain from taking measures that may increase fuel consumption, limit the free flow of petroleum products or disincentivize EU refinery output,’ Jørgensen said. He added that countries should consider the cross-border impact of national measures to preserve ‘EU-wide coherence’.

‘Europe…faces its first major crisis since cutting off Russian gas and phasing out Russian oil’

The senior energy official also recommended that countries boost monitoring and information-sharing, ‘defer non-essential refinery maintenance’ and consider increasing the adoption of biofuels to replace fossil fuel products.

The negative consequences of the month-long conflict in the Middle East have hit Europe especially hard, as the continent faces its first major crisis since cutting off Russian gas and phasing out Russian oil following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Benchmark Dutch TTF gas prices jumped nearly 30 per cent in early March, briefly approaching €70 per MWh before stabilizing around €60. Overall, European gas prices have surged dramatically since the conflict began, in some cases rising by as much as 60 per cent.

Similarly, crude oil prices surged above $100 per barrel—reaching their highest levels since the 2022 energy crisis—as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG flows pass, was severely disrupted and some Middle Eastern producers curtailed output.

In order to ease the impact, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on EU leadership to suspend sanctions on Russian energy imports—just as the US did in some cases—however, Brussels dismissed his call and reiterated that the bloc ‘must continue to exert maximum pressure on Russia’.

Instead, the Commission is now asking member states to cut back consumption and European citizens to ‘fly or drive less’ in order to save fuel. While the proposal is both hypocritical and ironical at best, it is not without precedent: during the 2022–2023 energy crisis, the Commission promoted lowering heating temperatures in government buildings and homes and introduced a 15 per cent voluntary gas demand reduction target for member states.

According to analysts, a prolonged conflict in the Middle East could bring devastating scenarios for Europe, potentially resulting in the worst energy crisis since the 1970s. As Hungarian Conservative reported, the worst-case scenario would see gas prices triple compared to pre-crisis levels, disruptions to oil and LNG shipments forcing heavy industry to halt production, inflation skyrocketing, and Europe facing recession across a continent already caught in polycrisis.

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