goes from 40% to 20% of its capacity

New escalation of an energy stalemate between Moscow and the European Union (EU). Russia further cuts gas pumping to Germany in less than a week, which will make it more difficult and costly for the bloc to fill up storage ahead of heating season in the coming winter months.

The Russian gas company Gazprom lowered this Wednesday, July 27, for “technical reasons” the supply of gas to Germany to a fifth of the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, the main delivery route to Europe for Russian gas, as reported by the operator of the infrastructure on your website.

The competent authority in Germany confirmed the reduction to 20% of capacity, which means half of what was being received in recent months.

Russian state-controlled Gazprom had announced on Monday that it would carry out the cut citing equipment repairs, further raising fears that Russia could cut off gas supplies entirely by trying to gain political influence over Europe, while several countries try to reinforce their storage levels for the winter.

In this latest reduction, Russia has indicated that it is due to technical problems, specifically the state of a turbine after the deadline for a new repair has expired, but Germany argues that it is a political move to sow uncertainty and increase prices in the midst of the war. in Ukraine.

As a measure to mitigate the crisis and consistent with the premise that Russia “is not interested” in the cessation of gas supplies to Europe, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, had proposed 24 hours before the Nord gas pipeline Stream 2 “can fully meet the needs of Europe, but they do not allow its operation for political reasons”, alluding to European sanctions for the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, pointed out that “Russia has been and continues to be a country that largely guarantees Europe’s energy security”, but warned that “if Europe continues down the path of adopting meaningless restrictions and sanctions, affect her, the situation will be different”.

Russia provides about a third of Germany’s gas supplies. And due to the drop in flows of the element, it is confirmed that Germany cannot rely on Russian deliveries. Hence it has announced that it will increase its gas storage requirements and take additional steps to conserve supplies.

Intermittent gas service to Germany

In June, Gazprom reduced the daily volume of gas pumped by Nord Stream 1, which accounts for 40% of the pipeline’s supply capacity, from 167 to 67 million cubic meters, due to the need, as Gazprom argued at the time. , to repair a turbine.

In July, the gas company completely suspended the gas firefighter for ten days by the Nord Stream for “routine maintenance work”.

On July 21, the Nord Stream was put back into operation at 40% of maximum capacity, which this Wednesday was at 20%.

Germany insists gas cuts are ‘a war strategy’

Klaus Müller, chairman of the German Federal Network Agency, told Deutschlandfunk public radio on Wednesday morning that “gas is now part of Russian foreign policy and possibly Russian war strategy.”

The explanations given by Moscow to lower these shipments to 20% of their capacity “are not realistic,” said Müller. Since Wednesday morning, 1.28 million cubic meters have flowed, thus fulfilling the forecast announced by Gazprom, which argues maintenance work and the lack of a turbine.

Along the same lines, both the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and his economy minister, Robert Habeck, maintain that there are no technical obstacles to a regular flow of gas.

Habeck has repeatedly accused Moscow of using gas as a weapon of war, while accelerating the search for alternatives to reduce Germany’s energy dependency on Russia.

The holder of the Economy portfolio maintains the purpose of having gas deposits at 95% of their capacity by November 1, to thereby guarantee energy security in winter. They are currently at 64.4% and, according to the minister’s plan, they should be at 75% by September.

Gas rationing in Europe to protect itself from further cuts

That fear of fuel shortages led EU governments to agree on Tuesday, July 26, to cut natural gas use to hedge against further supply cuts by Russia.

The project aims to reduce gas demand by 15% from August to March through voluntary measures. If there is not enough saving, mandatory cuts would be triggered across the EU.

The hope is that lower consumption could ease the impact should Moscow halt supplies altogether..

Natural gas prices have risen to the highest levels since early March and it is used for the power industry, generating electricity and heating homes in winter.

This increase is also fueling inflation, further reducing people’s purchasing power and fueling concerns that Europe could slip into recession if it doesn’t save enough gas to get through the frigid months ahead.

With Reuters, AP and EFE