Europe may face an even more acute energy crunch next year after draining its natural gas tanks to get through the cold of this winter, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, as the EU looks for ways to ease the crisis.

"With gas storages almost at 90 percent, Europe will survive the coming winter with just some bruises as long as there are no political or technical surprises," Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said on Wednesday after a meeting with the Economic Council of Finland.

However, he warned that the real challenge facing Europe, which had historically relied on Russia for around 40 percent of its natural gas, will begin in February or March when storage needs to be refilled after high winter demand has drained them to between 25 percent and 30 percent.

"This winter is difficult, but next winter may also be very difficult," Birol told the media.

European governments have moved to cushion consumers from the impact of higher prices. On Wednesday, Germany said it would subsidize power bills next year by paying just under 13 billion euros ($12.8 billion) towards the usage fees charged by the four high-voltage transmission grid companies.

The fees form part of electricity bills, accounting for around 10 percent of overall costs for retail customers and a third for industrial companies in sectors such as steel or chemicals.

In a 10-point plan the IEA released in March on how to reduce Europe's reliance on Russia, the Paris-based organization suggested that the EU should turn to alternative sources of gas from the EU itself and countries such as Norway and Azerbaijan. Moreover, it added the EU should not enter new gas supply contracts with Russia.

"In the current context, the complete shutdown of Russian pipeline gas supplies to the European Union cannot be excluded ahead of the 2022-23 heating season – when the European gas market is at its most vulnerable," said the IEA's gas market report for the fourth quarter of 2022.

(Source: Reuters with edits)