Vita gazette – Russian gas company Gazprom closes the taps. It has decided to cut gas supplies to Europe, especially Germany and Italy. A 40% supply restriction was imposed on Germany and 15% on Italy. The reason was explained as a turbine sent to Germany was not repaired due to the sanctions against Russia.

The war in Ukraine burns those who touch it, those who feel it, and those who pour gas into the fire. Russian gas company Gazprom has reduced natural gas supplies through an important pipeline to Germany. The company said flows through the pipeline, Nord Stream 1, would be cut by 60 percent, a day after announcing a 40 percent reduction.

Gazprom explained the reason for the decrease in gas supply as follows:

“The cuts were necessary because a turbine for a compressor station in northwestern Russia was sent for repairs and hadn’t returned in time. Siemens Energy, the German manufacturer of the turbine, said that the turbine had been sent to Canada for maintenance at a specialized facility in Montreal and that its return had been delayed because of Ottawa’s sanctions on Russia. Siemens Energy said it was trying to resolve the situation.” Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday. “The Russian side’s justification is simply a pretext. It is the strategy to unsettle and drive up prices.”

Gazprom later announced that it would shut down another turbine along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and reduce the volume of gas supply to 67 million cubic meters per day. In other words, after the first 40% decrease in the volume of gas sent to the EU, another 33% restriction comes.

15% for Italy

Gazprom communicated to Eni the 15% reduction in gas supplies destined for Italy. This decision came the day after the Moscow-based giant announced a 40% cut in flows through the Nord Stream, a crucial gas pipeline for Russian exports to Europe.

A squeeze motivated by “technical problems”, immediately creates inconvenience, especially for Germany, which thus loses almost a quarter of its gas needs. The company explained that they blocked a Siemens turbine and resulted in the cut of supplies: Nord Stream will be able to deliver 100 million cubic meters of gas per day against the 167 delivered so far. This decision immediately had a strong impact on Europe, with the markets becoming scared, leading to an immediate rise in prices.

Until two days ago, the gas situation in Europe seemed relatively stable despite the war in Ukraine. After a sharp rise on Tuesday, gas prices rose about 25 percent on the TTF exchange to 121 euros a megawatt-hour, about six times the level a year ago.

Una stretta motivata da “problemi tecnici”, che nell’immediato crea disagi soprattutto alla Germania, che così perde quasi un quarto del proprio fabbisogno di gas. I russi hanno trovato il modo di scaricare la colpa sulle sanzioni, che hanno bloccato una turbina della Siemens e comportato il taglio delle forniture: il Nord Stream potrà erogare 100 milioni di metri cubi di gas al giorno contro i 167 finora recapitati. Questa decisione ha subito avuto un forte impatto sull’Europa, con i mercati che si sono spaventati, comportando un immediato rialzo dei prezzi.

Per quanto concerne l’Italia, Eni sta guidando gli sforzi del governo presieduto da Mario Draghi per ridurre la dipendenza dal gas russo, e lo sta facendo anche attraverso i suoi rapporti di lunga data con i produttori dei Paesi africani. Ancora più complicata, invece, la situazione per la Germania, che ha sì ridotto la sua dipendenza dal gas russo dal 55 al 35%, ma con il taglio annunciato da Gazprom perderà circa un quarto del proprio fabbisogno energetico legato al gas.

In this context, President Ursula von der Leyen affirmed that the memorandum of understanding on gas signed in Cairo with Egypt and Israel is a “historic agreement”. Will it be enough? This coming winter will prove that …