Published on: 07/25/2022 – 22:45
Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Monday that it would reduce its daily deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream gas pipeline to 33 million cubic meters from Wednesday. Moscow calls for maintenance work on a turbine. For Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, this is a pretext and a political decision.
Following the gas turbine repair episode in Canada, here follows maintenance work on another turbine on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Gazprom now cites a technical problem every week to explain the drop in its gas supplies. From Wednesday, they will increase to 33 million cubic meters per day or 20% of the capacity of the gas pipeline connecting Russia with Western Europe.
The subterfuge made Berlin jump, extremely dependent on Russian energy denouncing a political decision. Westerners accuse Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for sanctions imposed after war broke out in Ukraine.
For Italian analyst Simone Tagliapietra, what Russia is trying to do above all is to push up gas prices on the world market in order to increase inflation, which is currently destabilizing Europe. This Monday evening, shortly after Gazprom’s announcement, gas prices rose by 10%. “Russia’s strategy is to pull the European economy below the price of energy, which is driving up inflation. And in the medium term, she would like this blow to Europe’s economy to persuade Europe to lift the sanctions, soften them to get some breathing space. That is the Kremlin’s strategy. It’s an economic war. And Europe must respond to this economic war as one,” explains the analyst at the RFI microphone.
The EU is trying to reduce dependence on Russian gas
This new Russian-European arms pass will undoubtedly be at the center of discussions in Brussels, where European energy ministers are meeting this Wednesday. More than ever, the EU Commission wants to forestall the clean cuts in the Russian gas tap. And to do this, she calls on the states to do everything possible to reduce their consumption by 15% compared to the average of the last five years.
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Portugal and Spain want to show solidarity with their neighbors but find it unfair to limit their consumption given their little exposure to Russian gas. France is opposed to a unified target that would ignore the specifics of each. Paris says it prefers a coordinated approach that doesn’t put its German neighbor and economic partner at a disadvantage, for example, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas.
The French Minister for Energy Transition emphasizes that reducing gas consumption in favor of the neighbors only makes sense if it can be exported. But the infrastructure is limited. In the event of a serious risk of shortages, the Commission intends to make the 15% cut binding. Paris advocates that this alert mechanism be subject to states’ consent, at the risk of interfering with the principle of subsidiarity, which gives states the power to choose their energy policies.
In any case, this further reduction in supplies of Russian gas to Europe will quickly have a significant impact. ” Germany must now reduce its gas consumption significantly, because if it does not reduce its consumption, it will not be able to secure its supplies for the winter, explains Simone Tagliapietra. It is very likely that Russia will stop all gas exports to Europe for the winter. Russia has no interest in shutting off all gas today because it is waiting for the best moment to do so, a moment when, it hopes, Europe will be tested even more by the crisis, by inflation.
Zelenskyy calls on Europe to ‘fight back’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Europe on Monday evening to “response” to Russia’s “gas war” by tightening European sanctions against Moscow.
“Today we heard new gas threats for Europe. Despite the Nord Stream turbine concession, Russia will not resume gas supplies to European countries as it is contractually obliged to do,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video message. “That’s why you have to fight back. Don’t think about how to bring back a turbine, tighten sanctions,” he added.