Lisbon, April 10, 2026 (Lusa) - Environment and energy minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, said on Friday that Portugal remains protected from an energy supply crisis, despite warnings from the International Monetary Fund regarding the global consequences of the war in the Middle East.

“Portugal is relatively protected from the crisis, not the price crisis, because those are global, but from the supply crisis," she told journalists in Lisbon.

On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund warned that the consequences of the war in the Middle East posed a serious risk to the international economy, facing a broad, global and asymmetric supply shock.

Additionally, over 80% of Portugal’s electricity is generated from renewable sources, preventing gas from dictating the price of electricity, Graça Carvalho said.

Regarding oil and gas supplies, she said that Portugal maintains a diverse portfolio of suppliers located outside the conflict zone, citing countries such as the US, Brazil, Nigeria and Algeria.

She further said that the Iberian Peninsula’s extensive port infrastructure and natural gas entry points provided a greater capacity to resist supply shocks compared to other European nations, such as Italy, which was heavily dependent on gas from Qatar in the Middle East.

"We have reserves, and we have a refinery that operates efficiently", she said.

When questioned about a potential European Union-wide tax on the extraordinary profits of energy companies, a measure supported by the Portuguese finance minister, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, and his counterparts from Germany, Spain, Italy, and Austria, Graça Carvalho said that the government would await a formal EU decision.

“It will be a measure taken at European level, so we will wait to hear the European Union’s decision. We will also wait to see how the international situation develops,” she said, adding that there will be a Council of Europe meeting on 23 and 24 April.

BC/MYAL // AYLS

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