Gazprom: Everything ‘points’ to a natural gas cut

Germany looks to July 21 with anxiety. It is the deadline for the completion of Gazprom’s annual maintenance works on the pipeline, and most likely the day the tap will have to be turned on for gas to start flowing to Germany. But this possibility is constantly receding. A representative of the Ministry of Economy at today’s briefing said that the turbine in question, which was maintained in Canada and according to Russian sources, has been in Germany since last night, is a spare and is not a necessary part, as claimed by the Russian side. The spokeswoman clarified that it is intended to be used in September and that this is a pretextual excuse by Gazprom to justify limiting the flow of natural gas, perhaps even closing the tap from next Thursday to Friday.

Is Uniper under collapse?

Despite repeated questions from journalists about where the turbine is now, when and how it will reach Gazprom’s decompression station outside St. Petersburg, the spokeswoman refused to answer, arguing that “it also touches on security issues.” When asked if Berlin really expects to pump natural gas from Nord Stream 1 again, he replied that it is prepared for all scenarios. It should be noted that Gazprom reduced the flow from mid-June with the argument of maintenance projects, while there is no alternative via Nord Stream 2, which does not have an operating license. In this dystopian landscape, Gazprom sent a letter to Uniper, the largest buyer of Russian natural gas and Germany’s largest gas supplier with tens of thousands of employees, citing force majeure to retroactively reduce the gas flow. The energy supplier RWE received the same letter. The move is being interpreted as an attempt by Gazprom to avoid lawsuits to pay damages for breach of contractual gas supply obligations.

However, Uniper’s financial situation is going from bad to worse due to lack of liquidity. Today the giant used the entire credit limit of two billion dollars from the state development bank KfW. As the Dusseldorf-based company announced, it requested a new increase in the credit limit due to the interruption of natural gas supplies. The future looks bleak, negotiations with the German government for a rescue package are ongoing without any positive signals, while Uniper uses its own reserves to meet its obligations.

Egypt as a machine God

Under these circumstances is there a case for a partial return to nuclear energy? Berlin seems to open up such a possibility. In the government briefing, a representative of the Ministry of Economy hinted that the operation of the last 3 nuclear power plants could be extended due to the precarious energy situation. However, Greens CO leader Britta Hasselmann was quick to dispel any suspicions, telling German news agency DPA that “there is a social consensus to get out of nuclear power, which we don’t want to put at risk. Nuclear power is a high technology risk, the desire to fix the natural gas shortage with nuclear power is and will remain a virtual debate.”

On the other hand, Egypt appears as a machine God. On the sidelines of the Petersburg Climate Dialogue, the president of Egypt, a co-organizing country, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, offered to supply his country with natural gas to Germany and Europe. “If Egypt can help, it will,” assured the German chancellor. Germany and Egypt plan close cooperation in the field of hydrogen economy. Russian state media follow the German government’s calls for energy savings with obvious glee. A TV presenter of the station Perwy Kanal was saying that “we are not the ones who imposed sanctions on us”. When asked if Putin would turn on the faucet again, he did not give a clear answer. So everything is fine, except natural gas.

Irini Anastasopoulou

Source: Deutsche Welle