Russia-Europe: “Then let’s turn off the gas”?
“Gazprom” on the eve warned the German energy companies from Austria, Italy and to reduce the volume of gas research, media reported.
In addition, Gazprom announced that it would reduce the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. it was first about 40%, and then about 60%. From the planned 167 cubic meters per day, pumping will decrease to 67 million.
At the same time, the Russian side motivated its solution to the problem of repairing the Portovaya compressor station in Vyborg, where, one after another, the goal was to operate two of the four turbine stations supplied by the German concern Siemens. Previously, the units served the manufacturing company, but due to the ban imposed against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Siemens cooperated extensively with Russia.
In turn, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck called Gazprom’s decision politically motivated. According to him, technical problems are just excuses, and Moscow simply turns on the destabilization of the European gas market by raising German prices.
Recall that earlier in the state of Texas, a large company Freeport LNG, which owns a large terminal for the export of liquefied gas, was discovered, a fire broke out. According to the first estimates, this may interfere with deliveries to Europe until about September. The terminal exports up to 20 percent of US gas exports.
“I don’t know how to regard this other than blackmail”
The primary reason for the shortage of Russian gas was, of course, the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, says an oil and gas sector analyst Mikhail Krutikhin. In his opinion, his Western sanctions, taken for aggression, are hurting Gazprom’s ability not only to pump its own gas, but also to service this equipment, and on a countrywide scale. “Because a Siemens turbine in Russia costs quite a lot,” he explained in an interview with the Voice of America Russian service. – And this, of course, is a serious blow to the ability of Gazprom to pump gas through Nord Stream 1. Apparently there, the further, the worse it will be: at least one more unit also needs to be repaired, and then prevented. How two of the four units work, but they are also placed. Then the pumping will stop completely.
On the other hand, pipes that deliver gas to Europe can receive gas from Russia, more than enough, a narrow analyst. In his opinion, in particular, this is the Ukrainian direction: “About 40% of the capacity is being used there now. It is also hypothetically possible to drive gas through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Poland. But Russia here personally introduced the so-called sanctions against the former subsidiary of Gazprom, the operator of this segment of the branch in Poland.”
In a word, if Gazprom did not take on other pipelines, therefore, purely political reasons lie at the heart of this, Mikhail Krutikhin stated: “The pressure is simply put on the Europeans. It’s an old story, the Kremlin seems to be repeating the spell again: you can’t survive the winter without our gas, and everyone there will freeze. I do not know how to regard it, except as blackmail. I guess it will continue in the same vein. The Germans openly say that politics is involved here, and they are absolutely right. Gazprom could consistently switch gas flows to other routes, mainly to Ukraine.”
No one else can compare with how much the president has done to deprive Gazprom of market niches in Europe, and this is Russia’s main gas market, the analyst concluded.
“The Kremlin uses energy as a pressure sensor on the device”
Slovak energy expert Karel Girman (Karel Hirman) recalls that Gazprom has been providing volumetric gas supplies to Europe since last summer. “For the winter, he did not fill his gas storage facilities in Germany, Austria and Holland. Since Christmas the day before, pumping through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline,” he said in comments for the Voice of America Russian Service.
According to the expert, one can already say that these steps were clearly coordinated and led by the Kremlin. “They were conceived with the preparation of an attack on Ukraine and are aimed at scaring Europe in order to make it seek support for Ukraine. Gas has arbitrarily become a border-shifting regime for Putin,” added Karel Girman.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the latest emissions of gas fields were the reason for the visit of the head of the police of Germany and Italy to Kyiv. Thanks to new contracts for the supply of European gas storage facilities, there would be gas records by the end of the summer. “Therefore, the time has been deliberately chosen to prevent this process, which has so far successfully prepared the EU market for winter,” concludes the Slovak energy expert.
The former Minister of Energy of Lithuania, and the current expert of the commission on nuclear energy Arvydas Sekmokas (Arvydas Sekmokas) has a serious reaction in an interview with the correspondent of the Russian service of the Voice of America. He also determines that the probability of gas getting to Europe is, first of all, a high accuracy for the Kremlin. “Moscow uses energy as a means of measuring pressure on an instrument to fight Russia and at the same time in the science of the war in Ukraine. The purpose of such actions is the dual purpose of increasing the volume of cuts in gas export cash flow when the cuts are reduced but prices are rising. Therefore, there is an influx of money in the world. The second is pressure on the device and, first of all, on Germany. Due to the fact that if the storage facilities are not found, this will complicate the process of entering new data and refusing to offer gas in the EU countries, ”the expert of the European Commission summarizes.
While the material was being prepared, the agency reported that, following the Austrian, Italian and German enterprises, the French Engie also informed about the reduction in the amount of gas from Russia.