Russia is using energy as a weapon to increase pressure on Europe. It has decided to completely cut off natural gas supply to France due to payment problems. Germany will also stop supply for three days. As winter approaches, when the demand for heating is high, European countries are expected to move faster to prevent the energy crisis.
cut off gas supply to France
Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom announced on the 30th (local time) that it would completely stop supplying natural gas to France’s largest gas supplier, Eng, from September 1.
This is because they did not receive the payment for natural gas supplied in July. Gazprom said, “According to the presidential decree, additional gas supply is prohibited if overseas buyers fail to pay the full amount according to the terms of the contract.” Gazprom announced a day ago that it would “reduce gas supplies.” It took more drastic measures to cut the supply altogether within one day. In response, ENG said, “We have secured a quantity to meet our promises with consumers.
According to the New York Times, Gazprom will also suspend operation of the Nordstream 1 gas pipeline for three days from the 31st to the 2nd of September. Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitry Peskov said, “The supply through Northstream 1 is being disrupted due to technical problems due to Western sanctions.” Northstream 1 is the main transport route for Russian natural gas supply to Europe and has a direct impact on German supply.
“It’s a technically incomprehensible decision,” said Klaus Muller, director of the Federal Network Agency, the German energy authority. This means that whenever Gazprom reduces or stops supply, it is said to be ‘maintenance’ as the reason.
Since mid-June, Russia has reduced the supply of Northstream 1 by 40% due to delays in the return of gas pipeline turbines. From July 11th, supply was completely stopped for ten days due to regular maintenance. After that, the supply was resumed, but the supply was cut in half again, and it is now shrunk to the level of 20%.
Europe busy with countermeasures
A sense of crisis is spreading across Europe that natural gas supply may be cut off altogether. Western countries have imposed large-scale economic sanctions on Russia after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it is analyzed that the effect is not so great. As energy prices are on the rise, countries that have not participated in sanctions are actively buying Russian energy. Thanks to this, Gazprom recorded the highest net profit in history, reaching 2.5 trillion rubles (about 55.8 trillion won) in the first half of this year. The Wall Street Journal reported that “Russia has earned $97 billion (about 130 trillion won) from oil and natural gas sales this year.”
Europe has taken action in all directions. The European Union (EU) will hold an emergency meeting on September 9. “We will meet in Brussels, Belgium on September 9,” said Josef Sikela, the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, who is the chair of the EU.
We are also actively increasing our stockpiles. “Europe’s gas stockpiles currently average 80%,” said The Guardian. Nuclear and wind power are also under consideration. Germany originally planned to shut down all nuclear power plants by the end of this year, but recently came up with a plan to extend the lifespan of the last three remaining nuclear power plants until next year.
Eight countries adjacent to the Baltic Sea, including Finland, have decided to increase their offshore wind energy generation by seven times by 2030, saying they will free themselves from dependence on Russian natural gas. Some companies are turning to oil instead of natural gas. German chemical company BASF has started using petroleum instead of natural gas and cutting production at plants that use a lot of natural gas.
By Park Joo-yeon, staff reporter grumpy_cat@hankyung.com