The German Ministry of Economy has announced the second of three phases of energy emergency, warning that the country faces a high risk of long-term supply shortages due to the fact that Russia systematically obstructs deliveries of gas.
One of the “alarm phases” of the emergency plan is to allow utility companies to pass on high gas prices to customers and thus help reduce demand.
The ministry said the reason for the warning was a reduction in gas supplies to Russia since June 14 amid continued rising prices in the gas market. If Russian gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline remain at a low level of 40%, the ministry said in a statement, “a 90% storage target for December cannot be reached without additional measures. “.
“It makes no sense to pretend that accelerating gas deliveries is an economic attack on us by Putin,” said Robert Habeck, the economy and energy minister. “Putin ‘s strategy is blatantly insecure, raising prices and wedging our society.
“Even though it is not yet felt, we are in a gas crisis,” he added. “From now on, gas will be a scarce commodity.”
The Green Party politician said the current crisis was also the result of previous German governments being allowed to rely too much on Russian gas and not diversify their energy sources enough.
“This is now chasing us again and needs to be rectified at high speed,” Habeck told a news conference Thursday morning.
Germany has been struggling to fill its gas storage facilities in time for the winter, as Europe’s largest economy is struggling to eliminate its Russian energy supply in the face of a possible European embargo. a possible decision by Moscow to completely cut off supply.
In a controversial move with the Green Party voter base, the German government plans to build two new liquefied natural gas terminals on the North Sea coast and restart some coal-fired power plants that were to be phased out.
On June 14, Gazprom announced that it was reducing deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 40%, citing delayed repairs of technical parts by German company Siemens. Habeck said Thursday that the technical reasons given were “just a pretext.”
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
The Economy Minister gathered German industry leaders around their emergency plans on Tuesday, warning them that large companies could face not only days but months of gas shortages in winter coming.
“If the plan works, the storage units will be full in the winter,” he said at a meeting of German DAX companies in Berlin. “There is a certain degree of hope that we can handle it. But make no mistake, we are not there yet, the units are only at 60%.”