“Russia is using the gas as a weapon. In the event of a total disruption, Europe will have to be prepared,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Until last year, Russian gas imports accounted for 40% of EU consumption.
The plan, which will be debated by the Member States of the European Union, provides that each country must “do everything possible” to reduce, between August 2022 and March 2023, its gas consumption by at least 15% in relation to the average of the last five years in the same period.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, through which a third of Russian gas deliveries to the EU transit, has been closed since July 11 for routine maintenance that must be completed this Thursday. But the Europeans fear that Russia will not reopen the tap.
Moscow had already cut deliveries by Nord Stream by 60% in recent weeks.
In the event of “substantial risk of serious shortages or exceptionally high demand”, and if voluntary efforts are not sufficient, the Commission wants to be able to activate a alert mechanism which would make it possible to set “binding demand reduction targets” for all the countries of the European Union.
The fear for the coming winter
Despite the increase in imports of Norway, Azerbaijan Y Algeriaand the tripling of shipments of liquefied natural gas of USA Since March, Europeans fear a difficult winter.
Von der Leyen estimated that the annual gas consumption in the European Union could be reduced by around 43,000 million m3. By way of comparison, Russia had supplied some 153 billion cubic meters to the 27 countries of the bloc in 2020.
Some 11,000 million m3 would come from a reduced heating and air conditioning of certain buildings, mainly public.
It also encourages the use of alternative sources for district heating and recommends launching communication campaigns to ask the population lower the thermostats one degree this winterwhich would save “up to 10,000 million m3 of gas per year”, according to the Commission.
“Priority must be given to renewable energybut a transition to coal, oil or nuclear energy may be necessary temporarily,” acknowledged Brussels, which asks countries to postpone their plans to close nuclear power plants.
Source: Ambito
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