The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 3rd (local time) that European countries are confident that they can survive the winter without Russian gas while Russia has halted operation of the gas pipeline ‘Nordstream-1’.
European state officials said they might fly through the winter without problems even with supply restrictions, according to the New York Times, saying they were prepared for the possibility of Russia shutting off gas supplies entirely in retaliation for Western sanctions.
“The EU is well prepared to respond to Russia’s use of gas as a weapon,” said European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the largest importer of Russian gas, also assured the press that “even if Russia’s gas supply becomes very difficult, we will be able to survive the winter.”
Germany’s Ministry of Energy said that its gas storage had already reached its target of 85% in early October. He explained that if Germany relied on Russia for 55% of its gas demand in February when Russia invaded Ukraine, that proportion had shrunk to regarding 10% at the end of last month.
Currently, it is known that Germany receives most of its gas from Nordic countries such as Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Energy said: “We have confirmed in recent weeks that Russia cannot be trusted and have continued to take steps to achieve independence from Russian energy accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Gazprom, a Russian state-owned gas company, was scheduled to restart Nordstream-1, a major gas pipeline used for gas supply to Germany and Europe on the 3rd, following maintenance and inspection, but it was abruptly postponed.
“During the inspection, an oil leak was found around the turbine,” Gazprom said in a statement.
Turbine maker Siemens Energy, a German company, said, “We don’t think the oil spill is serious enough to have the turbines shut down.”
Oh Se-seong, reporter at Hankyung.com sesung@hankyung.com
