Germany warns of Russian gas… Why??

A complete stop of natural gas deliveries from Russia is possible, warned the head of the Federal Network Agency on Saturday.

In an interview with the Funke newspaper group, Klaus Müller reiterated his call for a reduction in consumption and expressed fears that the forthcoming maintenance shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, an important gas vein, “will evolve into a longer-running political conversation.”

Earlier this week, Nord Stream AG, the operator of the subsea pipeline, said it would shut down both strands of the route for repair work July 11-21. Gazprom, the company’s majority shareholder, said the maintenance was planned and agreed with all partners.

Mueller said that “If, in the course of maintenance, the flow of gas from Russia is reduced for a long time for political reasons, we need to talk more seriously about savings”.

While keeping energy flowing to homes is a top priority, the official didn’t rule out the possibility of power outages.

“Private households enjoy special protection – as do hospitals and nursing homes, for example. If there is rationing, we must first reduce consumption in industry.” Mueller was quoted.

“We have learned from the Corona crisis that we should not make promises unless we are absolutely sure that we can keep them. But we don’t see any scenario in which no more gas comes to Germany,” he added.

Aside from planned maintenance that will halt gas flow through Nord Stream for 10 days, Gazprom has been forced to cut supplies by up to 60% due to technical issues stemming from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military operation in Moscow were imposed on Ukraine.

Gazprom said German equipment supplier Siemens Energy failed to return gas pump units to a compressor station on time as the repaired turbines for the gas route are currently stuck at a maintenance facility in Canada due to Ottawa’s sanctions against Russia.