Why Germany's dependence on Russian gas is embarrassing its allies

Audio 04:34

Men work on the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Lubmin, in northeastern Germany, where Russian gas arrives, March 26, 2019. ©Tobias SCHWARZ/AFP

By: Dominique Baillard Follow

3 mins

While Ukraine is still under the threat of a Russian attack, Germany stirs up trouble among the allies.

Berlin is suspected of sparing the Kremlin to preserve its Russian gas supplies.  

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While President Macron was in Moscow on Monday evening to appease President Putin, Chancellor Scholz was in Washington to give pledges to the head of the White House.

Because since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, Berlin has been cultivating ambiguity and playing with the nerves of the allies: by firmly supporting possible sanctions against the Kremlin while ensuring that its own imports of Russian hydrocarbons will not be affected. preferential regime does not apply to European partners and even less to the United States.

Last night the Chancellor remained vague, carefully avoiding mentioning the fate of the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline while Joe Biden promised to end it in the event of Russian aggression.  

How did Russia become an essential energy supplier for Germany? 

Here is an overview of its dependence: this country which is one of the last in Europe to still use coal imports half of the coke from Russia.

And above all 34% of its oil and a third of its gas.

Russia is the main supplier of this hydrocarbon which is a determining factor in the daily life of the Germans.

Half of the homes are heated with gas, an essential raw material also in industry.

Russia has become a leading partner of Germany thanks to a long-established relationship, consolidated by successive governments.

Other European countries have taken the same route but have since diversified their supply, as is the case with France.

On the other side of the Rhine, we still speak readily of “gas pipeline diplomacy”.

By creating interdependence the pipe would be a guarantee of peace.

And it's also good business since Russian gas is cheap with guaranteed prices on opaque long-term contracts.

At the end of the 90s,

, the Social Democratic Chancellor, amplified this partnership by launching a new pipe, Nordstream 1, the underwater gas pipeline.

It will be followed by Nordstream 2, its twin whose construction is finally finished but which is still awaiting the green light from the regulatory authorities to be put into service.  

After his political career, the former social-democratic chancellor was promoted to administrator in the Russian energy industry. 

He joined the board of directors of Rosneft, a Russian oil company, and of the Nordstream 2 consortium and now he is at Gazprom, the Russian gas champion, where he will be a director in October.

A big pebble in Olaf Scholz's shoe.

This appointment highlights the excesses of this gas pipeline diplomacy.

Until today all the experts praised this stable commercial relationship where each is obliged to the other.

Some 70% of Gazprom's exports going through the pipes are destined for Europe.

But for a few weeks the Russian supplier has restricted its deliveries to the strict minimum provided for by the contract.

Germany realizes that the relationship of trust is entirely relative.  

Can Germany switch suppliers? 

It has the freedom to do so, but it won't happen overnight, it will take years to build the necessary infrastructure to diversify its supply.

With ports dedicated to LNG, liquefied natural gas, for example to import from Qatar or the United States.

These are colossal investments and choices that commit for at least thirty years while the energy equation is getting more complicated for Berlin.

The coalition that has just come to power must reconcile its environmental agenda, the end of CO2-emitting energies with social imperatives, the rise in prices must be limited, the Germans are already paying for the most expensive electricity in Europe.

Without of course sacrificing safety.    

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