Gazprom cuts supplies to Germany: Berlin’s difficult plan to survive without Russian gas

The Russian gas giant Gazprom on Wednesday closed the supply tap to Germany through the Nord Stream gas pipeline a little more as promised, citing “technical” reasons that nobody believed. the pumping fell up to almost 20% of its capacity, with the apology of Moscow that it will deliver all the gas possible.

In number, some 17.3 gigawatt hours (GWh) arrived in Germany from Russia between 8:00 and 9:00, compared to an average of almost 29 GWh per hour in recent days.

Even the Italian group Eni announced that it was informed by Gazprom that the gas deliveries Wednesday would be limited to 27 million cubic meters, compared to 34 million “of the last days”.

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nord Stream traveled 73 GWh per hoursupplying Germany, particularly dependent on Russian gas, but also to other European countries via the Baltic Sea.

But the supply dropped to 40% of normal in mid-June, earlier a complete stop of 10 days for maintenance work in July. Since then the flows have resumed.

On Monday, Russian giant Gazprom finally announced it would halve its daily deliveries via Nord Stream from Wednesday, stating a maintenance intervention on a turbine.

But on Tuesday a spokesman for the Kremlin admitted that the reduction in the offer it was due to Western sanctions taken against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. “Had it not been for these restrictions, everything would have been fulfilled (…) within the usual time frame,” she said.

Western countries accuse Moscow of using gas as economic and political weapon.

The conflict is driving up gas prices in Europewhich hit its highest record since March on Tuesday.

Faced with the threat of pre-winter shortages, the 27 EU Member States agreed to reduce gas consumption by at least 15% between August 2022 and March 2023, compared to the average for the last five years of the same period.

Germany is the worst positioned country in this scenario due to its high dependence on Russian gas. On Wednesday he accused Russia of manipulating the flow of gas as part of a “power game”.

Government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said at a press conference that from the German point of view the technical reasons given by Gazprom are “apologies” and there is nothing that really hinders the flow of gas.

“What there is is a power game and we will not be affected,” he said, adding that the government of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz has taken numerous measures to diversify imports and reduce gas consumption.

The German plan (and challenge)

Reducing gas consumption in the European bloc will be a challenge for Germany.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced Germany’s intention on Tuesday save up to 20% on gas consumption in the coming winter. A figure that exceeds what was announced by the European agreement by 15%.

Outside this limit in Germany there will be only the food industry and the fertilizer industry. Habek insists on this there is no security on achieving a sufficient supply of gas for the coming winter, but that the country has several alternatives and this is the best strategy is to save in its consumption.

Today gas deposits are filled up to 65% and it is necessary to reach 100% to ensure complete supply.

Taking Russian arbitrariness into account, the German government also announced a 14,000 million euro plan of subsidies to renovate buildings and build them more energy efficient.

“Consuming less energy is the cheapest and most effective contribution to our independence and climate protection,” said Robert Habeck.

Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine Germany has managed to halve its consumption of Russian gas.

AFP, EFE and RFI

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