German officials are urging residents and businesses to start saving energy as they face a third day of diminishing natural gas flows from Russia, Europe’s largest economy-critical energy supplier.
“It’s time to do this,” German Minister of Economy Robert Habeck said in an urgent public appeal. Post to Instagram The end of Wednesday. “In this situation, it helps every kilowatt hour.”
Mr Habeck said the situation was serious, but claimed that supply to Europe’s largest economy was guaranteed. But the head of the country’s federal agency, which monitors gas and electricity networks, said the situation could become even more dangerous as temperatures cool as Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom continues to reduce gas flow. Warned.
It comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Arrived in Kyiv for a meeting With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
For decades Germany has relied on Russia as a major supplier of natural gas. Russia arrives in the country through a vast network of pipelines dating back to the Cold War era. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February turned Berlin into the United States, Norway and the United Arab Emirates in search of natural gas, reducing imports from Russia by 20%.
Gazprom On Wednesday, it said it would cut its natural gas supply to Germany through its main pipeline by 60 percent the day after the announcement. 40% reduction.. The pipeline, Nord Stream 1, carries gas directly from Russian oil fields to Germany, diverting some of the flow to other European countries.
Gazprom said a turbine for a compressor station in northwestern Russia was sent for repair and was not in time, so reductions are needed.
Several other European countries have also reported a decrease in gas flowing across national borders.
CEZ, the Czech Republic’s leading gas supplier, also reported that supply from Gazprom had fallen to the same extent as Germany, citing technical issues, said Ladislav Kriz, a spokesman for the company, Thursday. rice field. The Austrian OMV energy company said Gazprom had informed about gas reductions, but did not provide further details.
Italy’s energy company Eni said in a statement that Gazprom’s supply to Italy fell by 15% on Wednesday and remained at that level on Thursday. Gazprom has blamed the reduction of problems at the plant supplying the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Any said.
This situation is currently acceptable, as most Europeans do not warm their homes during the summer and air conditioning is relatively rare, and officials in all four countries say that supply declines are not a threat. Insisted.
But if Russia continues to supply 40% of its previous gas flow for several weeks, it could be even worse, said Klaus Müller, head of the German federal agency for gas, electricity and telecommunications. Stated.
“To survive the winter, it’s imperative to fill the storage right now,” Muller told the Linish Post.
Muller and Havek refused to explain Gazprom’s technical problems, suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin was an excuse to raise prices for European natural gas. Gasoline prices have risen 70% this week, reaching more than € 140 per megawatt hour on Thursday’s TTF exchange.
“Yesterday I received a notice that the amount of gas was even lower,” Habeck told Germans in an Instagram video that had been watched more than 141,000 times by noon Thursday. “That confirms what we were afraid of from the beginning. Putin is reducing the amount of gas. We’re not doing it all at once, we’re going step by step.”
He pointed out similar actions by Russia in recent months, Gazprom cuts off gas supply To Poland, Bulgaria and Denmark.
At the same time, he claimed that Germany was in a position to continue to fill its gas reserves in preparation for the winter. Storage levels have been chronically low in recent years, partly because Gazprom has allowed it to be immersed in some important natural gas tanks owned by Germany.
Earlier this year, the government passed a law requiring owners of natural gas storage facilities to fill 65% by August each year and 80% by October, when the heating season begins.
Muller’s agency said on Wednesday that the storage level of the German facility is 55 percent of its capacity. Nonetheless, he sought to be provided with the legally required temperature that landlords must secure to lower their rentals twice and incentives to reduce the amount of energy a company consumes. I did.
“Gas has reached Germany,” Habeck said. “There is no problem with the supply, but it will have to be purchased in the open market and will be more expensive.”
Gaia Pianijani Report that contributed.
