Gazprom, the Russian government-owned energy giant, is expected on Wednesday to temporarily halt the flow of natural gas through Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline connecting Russia to Germany, sparking concerns New worries about Europe’s energy supply.
Gazprom, the energy giant owned by the Russian government, said cut point is necessary for maintenance, although the German government and energy operators consider it politically motivated. After three days, Gazprom said, the pipeline will restart “provided that no problems are identified.” It says flow will continue at 20% capacity, the same reduction it provided since the end of July.
Energy markets will be watching closely to see if supply continues as expected. In July, the pipeline was closed for 10 daysagain for maintenance.
Like other European countries, Germany is rushing to fill up its natural gas storage facilities before winter as an insurance measure against Russian cuts. The Russian government appears to be trying to thwart that effort as well as create uncertainty about future gas supplies.
So far, the results have been contradictory. Germany’s gas storage facilities are already at more than 83% of capacity and appear to be able to meet the government’s 90% target by November 1.
On the other hand, the flow cuts and supply worries in the coming months has boosted natural gas prices in Europe hit record levels in recent weeks, causing some of the economic damage that gas storage efforts aim to avert.
Gazprom isn’t just targeting Germany. On Tuesday, Engie, a major French utility, said that Gazprom had informed the company that it was cutting off gas supplies due to a contract dispute. “Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we have to prepare for the worst case scenario where supplies are completely disrupted,” French energy transition minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told France radio. Inter, Reuters reported.
On Monday, Uniper, a German utility company that is one of Europe’s largest suppliers and buyers of natural gas, said that it had run out of credit worth 9 billion euros from the German government. and is asking for another 4 billion euros.
Uniper said that with contractual supplies from Gazprom down 80%, it had to buy gas on the market at a significantly higher price to supply it to customers, resulting in losses the company said exceeded 100 percent. million euros per day.
Uniper has agreed to a bailout in July that will include a government stake in the company, but further steps including European Union approval are needed before it can be fully implemented. .
The company’s CEO, Klaus-Dieter Maubach, said in a statement that Uniper is working with the German government on “a permanent solution to this emergency”. Otherwise, he warned, the company would not be able to perform what he called a “critical system function” as a supplier of natural gas to cities and factories.
