The Russian authorities are stepping up gas blackmail against the background of the decision of the European Union to reduce gas consumption.
EU countries have agreed on an emergency plan to reduce gas consumption after a week of discussions. The purpose of the plan is to reduce risks due to the threat of a complete cessation of gas supplies from Russia. True, the adopted document turned out to be softer than the original version due to the disagreement of some countries to reduce consumption.
Against this backdrop, Russia is once again reducing gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream, and has also stepped up pressure – literally this time – at the entrance to the Ukrainian gas pipeline, without warning, which could lead to “extraordinary situations.” Korrespondent.net tells the details.
What was agreed in Europe
European Union energy ministers have agreed on an emergency plan to reduce gas consumption. On Tuesday, July 26, it was approved by a majority vote at a special meeting in Brussels, the representative office of the Czech Republic, which is currently chairing the EU, reported. Only Hungary voted against.
The plan proposed by the European Commission assumes a reduction in national gas consumption from August 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 by 15 percent from the level of consumption in 2019.
Some exceptions are provided for countries:
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whose networks are not synchronized with the pan-European one (for example, Malta and Ireland)
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those with limited access to pipelines (Hungary and Estonia)
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with a large specific standard of gas reserves in storage
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highly dependent on gas as a raw material for industry (for example, Germany)
Czech Industry and Trade Minister Josef Sikela said the agreed gas demand reduction document also makes exceptions for the Baltics and the EU island states.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that “the Kremlin is not a reliable partner in supplying energy to Europe,” and that the EU should prepare for a complete cessation of supplies.
In addition, the adopted plan provides for the possibility of declaring an alarm within the EU in the event of a large-scale shortage of gas supplies. Mandatory targets for saving gas consumption should also be set, and compared to the first draft of the European Commission, the barriers to these targets have been increased, and the number of possible exceptions to the plan has been increased.
The Italian newspaper La Stampa writes that from the original plan of the European Commission there was almost nothing left: “First of all, the European Commission is deprived of the right to declare a state of emergency – which, in turn, is a prerequisite for the obligatory fulfillment of the target of a 15% reduction in gas consumption.”
At the first stage, from August 1 to March 31, gas consumption will be reduced on a voluntary basis. The Council of the EU, that is, the governments of European countries, needs a qualified majority to decide on declaring a state of emergency. And a request to consider this issue should be made not by three, but by five countries at once.
How the Kremlin outplayed itself
A day earlier, Russian Gazprom announced the shutdown of another Siemens turbine at the Portovaya compressor station, which is responsible for pumping through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, explaining this by the need for repair work.
Due to the decommissioning of the turbine, gas supplies via Nord Stream will be reduced from July 27 to 33 million cubic meters per day, which will be about 20 percent of the throughput capacity.
At the same time, the German company Siemens Energy reported that it had sent to Gazprom an export license issued by Canada, which allows to repair, maintain and transport turbines for the Portovaya compression station.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow had not received clear explanations regarding the status of Siemens turbines. He “gets the feeling” that the West is calling on Russia to “violate the regulations” on the safety of the gas pipeline.
The press secretary of the Russian ruler Dmitry Peskov, in turn, added that the situation is “critically complicated” by the restrictions and sanctions imposed against Russia.
Vice-Chancellor, head of the German Ministry of Economy Robert Habek says that there are no technical reasons for reducing gas supplies from Russia via Nord Stream. In his opinion, Putin “is playing an insidious game.”
According to him, all documents for the Siemens turbine are ready, but Russia refuses to issue import documents. The vice-chancellor believes that Moscow is violating the agreements and shifting the blame to others.
Khabek noted that Russia is trying to weaken Ukraine’s support with gas blackmail, but Western countries will counter this with “cohesion and consistency of actions.”
So far, it can be argued that the Kremlin is outplaying itself. How writes New Newspaper. Europe, Russia will have to mothball wells due to the fall in gas exports, and the Russians do not have the technologies for re-mothballing, as well as for drilling new wells.
In 2013, ExxonMobil, which then had a strategic agreement with Rosneft to enter into all Russian oil and gas projects of Rosneft in the amount of one third of the cost of each of the projects, drilled a well in the Kara Sea, in which colossal oil and gas reserves were discovered.
In connection with the 2014 sanctions imposed after the occupation of Crimea, ExxonMobil was forced to mothball the well and leave Russia. Rosneft has repeatedly in informal conversations confirmed the fact that it lacks the technology to both reopen this well and drill a new well next to it, the newspaper writes.
Such a fate awaits almost all mothballed gas wells in Russia, but they will have to be mothballed – with a significant drop in gas exports, there is nowhere to store the produced gas, and Russia does not have adequate capacities for its liquefaction.
An attempt to cut off Ukraine from gas supplies
The operator of the gas transmission system of Ukraine reported a pressure surge in the section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline that borders with Russia. Gazprom increased the pressure without warning.
“OGTS informed Gazprom that untimely submission of information about the switching and change of regimes could lead to emergency situations on the main gas pipeline,” the statement on the Ukrainian operator’s website says.
Such actions by Moscow create risks for Europe in the face of reduced gas supplies via Nord Stream, the OGTS said. In addition, in 2009, under similar circumstances, due to the fault of Gazprom, an accident occurred on the gas pipeline of Turkmenistan.
Meanwhile, Ukraine calls for increased pressure on Russia itself. President Volodymyr Zelensky said news of yet another reduction in Russian supplies to Europe showed that “this is an open gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe.” He urged “to strike back.”
“Not to think about how to return some turbine, but to increase sanctions. Do everything to limit Russian revenues not only from gas and oil, but in general from any remaining export. And to break trade ties with Russia as much as possible, because everyone is such communication is a potential means of pressure for Russia,” he said.
If the pressure on Russia does not ease, but intensifies, and the EU manages to maintain unity, this winter will be the last time Russia can use gas to pressure Europe, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.
“The only way is to strike back and get rid of any addiction,” Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba also tweeted.
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