In the context of the war in Ukraine and the showdown between Moscow and Westerners on energy, Europe had prepared for Gazprom cutting the tap for good.
Le Monde with AFP
Russia has reopened the gas tap to Europe by restarting on Thursday July 21, the Nord Stream pipeline 1. After ten days of annual maintenance, deliveries resumed early in the morning in this pipeline that directly connects The Siberian gas fields in the north of Germany, from where the gas is then exported to other European countries.
The first data published by the German network operator, Gascade, show that the flow would ultimately be identical to that before maintenance, around 40 % of the capacities. Some 29 GWh of gas were sent from the second hour of service to the Greifswald station, in Germany, by the Baltic Sea, where the gas pipeline results.
Gas flows could “reach the level of premonition of approximately 40 % of use [about 700 GWh per day]. Unfortunately, political uncertainty (…) remains”, Tweeted President of the Federal Network Agency , Klaus Müller.
Arguing the absence of a turbine, in maintenance in Canada, Gazprom has, in fact, already reduced to 40 % of the capacities deliveries by Nord Stream since mid-June. But even a restart at 40 % of the capacity would be insufficient to guarantee the supply of individuals and businesses throughout the winter.
In the context of the war in Ukraine and the showdown between Moscow and Westerners on energy, Europe had prepared for the energetician Gazprom, owner of the gas pipeline, cuts the tap for Well. The announcement, Wednesday of deliveries programmed at the German arrival point of the gas pipeline, in Lubmin, had however given the hope that driving be put into service.
the gas used “as a weapon”
To avoid a major crisis, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday a plan aimed at reducing short -term gas demand by 15 %, denouncing a new use of gas “as a weapon” by the Kremlin.
In Germany, the main client of Gazprom, shortages could occur in February if the flow does not increase, according to the assessments of the Federal Networks Agency. A stop of Russian gas deliveries would reduce the value of German GDP by nearly 5 percentage points between 2022 and 2024, calculated the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Nord Stream transports approximately a third of the 153 billion cubic meters of gas bought annually by the European Union. However, Vladimir Putin hinted this week that the gas pipeline could only operate 20 % of its capacity next week.
The fault, according to the Russian president, to turbines which equip the pipeline and whose Russia has made a new instrument of pressure on Westerners. One of these turbines, which feeds compression stations, has just been repaired in Canada in the factories of the German group Siemens. It is still being transported to Russia. However, a second turbine must, according to Vladimir Putin, go on maintenance next week, capable of further dividing deliveries.
Gazprom decisions on gas deliveries have been deemed “political” from the German government, which continues to accuse Russia to invoke turbine problems such as “pretext”. If gas shortages are feared this winter, the explosion of the cost of energy is already felt, threatening the European economies with recession, which are barely recovering from the pandemic of Covid-19.
Individuals “will be shocked when they receive a letter from their energy supplier” with a tripling, even a quadrupling, from the invoice to the key, alerted Mr. Müller, president of the Federal Networks Agency , to encourage the population to reduce their consumption.
The emergency is already there for the first gas storage in Germany and, as such, a large customer of Gazprom: the Uniper energy group risks bankruptcy if it does not receive aid from the very short term ‘State. He must, for lack of Russian gas, do his shopping on the cash market, where prices have exploded. An entry from the state to capital should be announced, Berlin fearing cascade effects comparable to a “lehman brothers of energy” in the event of the group’s bankruptcy.