German official warns of ‘serious situation’ amid reducing Russian gas supply

International News

BERLIN, July 26. (ST)- German Vice Chancellor, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck warned about a serious power situation in the country amid further reduction of gas supply from Russia, speaking on the ARD TV channel Monday.

“We have a serious situation. It is time for everyone to understand that,” Habeck said, adding that Germany must reduce its gas consumption.

“We are working on it,” the official said, adding that measures must be implemented consecutively.

He noted that there is some gas supply from the Netherlands and Norway.

“It all now depends on how frugal we are,” he said, speaking about possible scenarios for the winter.

According to Habeck, gas supply for industry will be reduced before private residences or critical infrastructure such as hospitals will experience gas shortage.

He acknowledged that this will disrupt certain production chains both in Germany and in Europe.

“It is necessary to avoid this by all cost. This is why Germany must reduce its gas consumption by 15-20%,” Habeck said.

On Monday, Russia’s Gazprom announced that it has to suspend the operation of another Siemens turbine because it has reached its capital repair point. This will result in the capacity of the Portovaya compressor station falling to almost half – from 67 to 33 million cubic meters a day. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned about that last week.

The Nord Stream pipeline has been operating at only 40% capacity (67 million cubic meters a day) since mid-June due to delayed return of a Siemens turbine shipped for repairs to Canada. Following numerous requests from Germany, Canada agreed to return the repaired turbine on July 9. However, Gazprom says there are still unresolved issues regarding EU and UK sanctions, which must be resolved before the turbine could be shipped and installed in Russia and other turbines could be shipped for repairs.

The European Commission claims that EU sanctions against Russia do not cover equipment for gas transit.

Raghda Sawas

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