Berlin — On the eve of the European Union’s emergency meeting on reducing natural gas consumption, Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly reiterated its unpredictability and imposing power on Monday, supplying Germany with gas. Announced that it will reduce. Block pain to help Ukraine.
The EU Energy Ministers will meet on Tuesday to consider reducing gas usage by 15%. In particular, the Kremlin can cause an artificial shortage that threatens winter heat and power generation. Russia’s Gazprom announced on Monday that it would cut the flow from the North Sea pipeline to Germany in half, cutting it to just 20% of its capacity, as if to confirm such concerns.
Western officials dismissed Russia’s explanation of equipment troubles, whether by accident with German equipment or not, as merely a cover of its operation. “There is no technical reason for reduced deliveries, according to our information,” the German Ministry of Economy said in a statement.
“Putin will bring us this winter,” said Ursula von der Leyen, chairman of the European Commission for EU executives, last week as member states proposed a 15% reduction in gas usage by next spring. I’m trying to push it in. ” This reduction aims to build depleted stores and prepare for potential Russian oppression.
“This is exactly the kind of scenario President Von der Leyen mentioned last week,” her spokesman said on Monday. “This development validates our analysis.”
But as Western nations seek to curb the flow of fossil fuel revenues that underpin the Russian government, its war machines, and much of its economy, their move puts public opinion on democracy and steers the world market. It required a difficult combination of each other. .. The latest news of Gazprom’s supply cuts raised the price of European gas futures by 12 percent on Monday. Prices that previously fell below 30 euros per megawatt hour have skyrocketed over the past year, sometimes exceeding 180 euros ($ 184).
The dictatorial Putin has said that since the invasion of Ukraine in February, he has sufficient power on his side, especially when tightening and loosening energy plugs, and can use it at his sole discretion. Shown. He also gives his tips on guessing enemies and keeping them out of balance, and his government often sends inconsistent signals.
On Friday, Russia signed an agreement allowing grain transport from the closed port of Odessa to alleviate global food shortages — and the next day it struck the port with missiles, endangering the agreement. Still, Ukraine said it was planning on Monday, and a UN spokesman said the first vessel could depart in a few days.
Western countries have closed most of Russia’s oil imports. However, it has pushed up prices, boosted the Kremlin’s income and contributed to the shortage that offended Western consumers, and Moscow is trading instead to sell to China and India. The Biden administration is trying to adjust international arrangements to limit the prices Russia can impose on the world’s oil markets, a complex financial and diplomatic endeavor.
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It takes weeks of controversy for the European Union to agree to shut off most Russian oil, and some parts need to be delayed by months and some small countries to be exempted to trade. was.
Countries like Greece and Spain, which are not heavily dependent on Russia’s gas, are plagued by the idea of seeking savings from businesses and people to help their wealthier northern partners Germany. A new sector has emerged in the EU’s proposal to reduce. And European officials are competing to come up with alternatives from the Middle East, the United States and other countries.
Simon Tagliapietra, a senior researcher at Bruegel, a Brussels-based research institute, says how vulnerable 27 EU member states are with the latest supply cuts and will act swiftly and decisively to save gas. It should reveal how important things are. ..
“The announcement of Gazprom is not surprising,” said Tagria Pietra. “Russia is playing a strategy game here. Fluctuation of already low flows is better than a full cutoff because it manipulates the market and optimizes geopolitical impact.”
Russia typically supplies 40% of the gas used in the European Union, but June flows fell to less than one-third of the average. European gas storage facilities are usually nearly full at this point of the year in preparation for winter, and the entire continent is prone to shortages, which can disrupt industry and private life as well.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, relies specifically on Russia for gas, gaining 55% of its supply before the invasion, but it has plummeted. The main channel of its supply is the 760-mile NordStream1 pipeline beneath the North Sea.
In recent years, the pipeline has been closed for maintenance for about 10 days each July, but in 2020 and 2021, it was operating at or near capacity both before and after the closure. By the time it closed, stores were sluggish as Russia began cutting gas transport already in mid-June this year. Gazprom has accused the reduction of missing turbines shipped to Canada for repair by the German company Siemens.
The turbine was returned to Germany last week and is now heading to Russia. At the end of the maintenance period, Gazprom resumed flow, but only about 40% of its capacity. Then on Monday, the company said it would drop to 20 percent, State to that social media account It means “stopped another gas turbine engine manufactured by Siemens.”
Hours before the announcement, Klaus Müller, head of the German agency that regulates utilities, said the country’s storage facilities will reach 65.9% of capacity and will reach the 75% target by early September. Said that. Now that’s a problem.
The European Commission’s protection plan goes to countries facing the most serious problems because the EU economy is so integrated that hitting one country will hit everyone. We promise to help and seek shared sacrifices. This is especially true because Germany, the most vulnerable country, is the economic power of the continent.
South of the block and some member states since then have stated that the Commission’s proposal makes little sense unless it uses little gas or purchases primarily from Russia, but its version withstands voting. can do. Unlike EU sanctions and partial oil embargoes, which require unanimous consent, gas conservation programs require only a “reinforced majority”. That means the support of 15 member states, which make up 65% of the EU’s population.
The Commission is responsible for declaring an energy emergency when gas inventories fall below a certain level and wants to be able to implement compulsory gas distribution. Such an extraordinary boost to its normal power is unlikely to be accepted by EU countries that do not like to transfer autonomy to Block.
Intensive consultations in preparation for the meeting over the past few days have softened the proposal, shortened the period and coordinated the placement of governments in the capital of the European Union rather than the EU bureaucracy in Brussels. I concentrated. that.
Melissa Eddie With a report from Berlin Matina Stevis-Gridnev From Brussels. Richard Peres Penha Contributed to the report from New York.