The European Union on Wednesday urged its 27 member states to cut natural gas use by 15 percent from August to March next year, as concerns grow that Russia could cut off the flow of natural gas to the region. “European gas markets have experienced months of confusion and worry as Russian gas supplies have fluctuated,” Kaushal Ramesh, senior gas analyst at Rystad Energy, a research firm based in Oslo, Norway, told Al Jazeera. “A lot of it is out of Europe’s control.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that natural gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will resume once maintenance is completed, but he also warned that flows could be curtailed unless a dispute over sanctioned components is resolved. More than a third of Russian gas shipments to the EU go through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. It has been closed since July 11 for annual maintenance. Deliveries are expected to resume on Thursday. “The general expectation is that flows through Nord Stream tomorrow will reach a maximum capacity of 67 million cubic meters, but this may drop to 30 million in the coming days as a second turbine now requires maintenance,” Rystad’s Ramesh explained . The conflict in Ukraine has already caused supply disruptions and is expected to continue to affect energy flows. The states of Europe are finding it difficult to replenish their natural gas reserves ahead of the winter months. Natural gas is essential to heat homes and power plants, and an energy crisis could further threaten Europe’s shaky economic recovery from a pandemic-induced recession. Nord Stream with onshore facilities [File: Bloomberg] EU states will now consider the streamlining plan drawn up by the European Commission. Under the proposal, the bloc’s member states must cut natural gas use by 15% from their average levels in the same months between 2016 and 2021. Ministers will discuss the action on Friday in order to ratify it next week.
Parts and politics of Nord Stream
Russia’s Gazprom cut gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 40% of capacity last month. Russia said the cuts were attributed to delays in returning a turbine serviced in Canada. This week, it was reported that the department, which had been affected by EU and Canadian sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, was returning. But on Wednesday Gazprom said it had not yet received “any official document” necessary to reinstall the turbine engine and stressed that the maintenance and return of the equipment “have a direct impact on the operational safety of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.” pic.twitter.com/DDB9Eifcwa — Gazprom (@GazpromEN) July 20, 2022 “The restart of natural gas flows provides Russia with a unique opportunity to seek concessions. We may see Russia seeking to limit arms flows to Ukraine, or something to that effect,” Jim Crane, an energy analyst at Rice University in Houston, Texas, told Al Jazeera. “A shutdown would violate contractual terms and signal to the rest of the world that Russian energy contracts require political loyalty, not just legal compliance.” Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a press conference after the Astana Process summit in Tehran, Iran [File: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters] In earlier statements, Putin claimed that one of Nord Stream 1’s five gas pumping units operated by Siemens Energy was not operational and that the second was scheduled to be taken down for maintenance on July 26. He also said that if a section of the pipeline is not returned to Russia due to sanctions, the link will only operate at 20 percent capacity as early as next week because another section currently in Russia needs to be serviced. “If another comes, two will work. If not, only one, so 30 million cubic meters will be pumped per day,” he told reporters late Tuesday in Iran after talks with the country’s leader. Putin also claimed that Gazprom, which has a monopoly on gas exports from Russian pipelines, was not responsible for the reduction in the amount of gas that can be transported to Europe. He blamed Kyiv for closing a route through Ukraine, but Ukrainian authorities claim the closure is due to the Russian invasion. European nations were scrambling for alternative energy sources long before Russia invaded Ukraine, as demand for fuel soared when economies opened up after being hit by the pandemic.
