Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – European countries are highly dependent on Russian gas supplies. Therefore, when Russian President Vladimir Putin limited his gas supply, other countries have started screaming.
How not, Russia became the largest natural gas contributor to Europe with 41%. The country also has the largest gas reserves in the world. In addition, Russia also provides 25% of Europe’s crude oil imports, it is not surprising that Europe is very dependent on natural gas and Russian petroleum is very large.
Now, Putin is turning his natural resources into a weapon against European countries. Citing The Guardian, currently Moscow’s state-owned energy company, Gazprom, has cut supplies flowing through Europe’s main natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 1, by 60%. The company said the move was due to repairs made to the pipeline.
This improvement has also triggered supply cuts in Italy, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Gas flows have also been closed to a range of other countries including Poland, Bulgaria, France and the Netherlands.
In addition, the explosion at Freeport’s large liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, United States (US) recently experienced an explosion incident. The facility itself is an important facility for gas supply from the US to Europe.
Some parties are starting to predict that there will be a severe energy crisis in Europe if this happens. The reason is that 40% of the region’s gas needs still depend on sources from Russia.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol asked Europe to immediately prepare itself if Russia completely stopped its supply to the region. He said Moscow’s current decision to cut gas flows could be a move to cut off the Blue Continent’s efforts to stockpile supplies
“I believe there will be more and deeper demand measures (taken by governments in Europe) as winter approaches,” Birol said, adding that gas supply rationing remained a real possibility if Russia cut exports further. /6/2022).
However, if this step cannot be taken, Europe will experience production restrictions due to the limited supply of gas from Russia. This will further disrupt the region’s economic growth.
“Either the government will impose limits on energy use, or the price will be so high that it is not economical to use,” he added.
“There may be a tipping point if Russia stops gas flow this winter when usage is high. Even during the cold war, Russia was a reliable supplier of energy. Now that link has been cut.”
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