The Russian gas company Gazprom has announced that it will further reduce gas supplies via the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 from Wednesday. Then, instead of 40 percent, only 20 percent of the actually possible volume should flow – that is, only 33 million cubic meters of gas per day. Questions and answers about the consequences of this step:
no In summer, gas consumption in Germany is comparatively low because there is hardly any heating. Therefore, according to the Federal Network Agency, it was not only possible to cover the current gas demand in the past few weeks, even during the complete stop of Russian gas deliveries by Nord Stream 1 due to maintenance work, but also to pump a little gas into the storage facilities. However, only to a very small extent.
That could be difficult. The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, recently warned: “Even at a level of 40 percent, we have to make considerable efforts to get through the first winter well.” If only 20 percent of the maximum capacity comes out of the pipeline, it will be correspondingly more difficult. Filling up the gas tanks in particular could become a problem.
The federal government has set a storage level of at least 95 percent as a target for November 1st. That is unrealistic, even if 40 percent of the delivery capacity flows through the pipeline, Müller said on Monday at a crisis summit of the Baden-Württemberg state government.
In the best case, a maximum of 80 to 85 percent is possible. If the delivery is halved, this goal will also be difficult to achieve.
Gas prices on the energy exchanges are likely to rise again. “It would be surprising if this did not happen,” said Florian Starck from the Check24 price portal. Because the demand for gas is relatively constant, and now a replacement must be found for the failure of Russian gas. That drives the prices.
