This level of alert gives the government of Olaf Scholz the possibility of “supporting” market players with subsidies to deal with high prices.
The third and final stage of this plan is the “urgency level” and would allow the State to organize rationing, in order to distribute the gas among individuals, administrations and companies.
Reduction
Last week, gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline fell by 60%. The Russian giant Gazprom argued that it was due to a technical problem. However, for the German government it was a “political decision” within the tension between Russia and Western countries over the war in Ukraine, which began in late February and has caused significant international sanctions against Moscow.
The Kremlin has deplored the German decision to start delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion.
“If a turbine needs to be checked or is not put in place after a repair (there is nothing to do). Everything is clear and there is no double meaning,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Our German partners are aware of the maintenance cycles. So it’s really strange to want to qualify this as a political thing,” he stated.
According to Moscow, the German company Siemens delayed the delivery of components for a compression turbine that needed to be repaired, forcing Russia to cut deliveries through the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The increase in the cost of energy by around 40% in the last year has translated into year-on-year inflation of 7.9% in May. The need to control it and the reduction in the population’s consumption capacity threaten to plunge the country into a recession.
Bookings
Right now, Germany’s reserves stand at 58%, a level higher than in recent years. But if deliveries via Nord Stream remain “at a low level”, the 90% reserve level imposed by German law to cope with the northern winter will not be reached, according to the government. That is why “we have to take all the necessary measures to guarantee our supply” for next winter, said Robert Habeck.
Faced with the emergency, Germany announced that it will resort more to coal due to restrictions on gas. The Government admitted that it is a “bitter” decision, due to its polluting nature, but hoped that it would be provisional.
Source: Ambito
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