LONDON
- As soon as Russia announced a new reduction in the level of gas pumping into the Nord Stream pipeline, which supplies gas to Germany and the rest of European countries, gas prices in Europe rose by nearly 5 times compared to last year.
What increases pressure on European countries is Germany's inability to complete storage of all its gas needs in preparation for the winter season, which foretells of an economic crisis that will not remain within Germany's borders but will bypass it to all of Europe, because Germany is the largest economy in Europe, and it is also more A European country that depends on Russian gas.
The European Union countries accuse Russia of blackmailing Russia with the gas card, to increase pressure on the Europeans to ease the sanctions imposed on Moscow, while Russia says that gas is a "Russian product, and Russia has the right to determine export rules", and this means opening a war between the two parties with a gas weapon.
What are the types of gas pipelines between Russia and Europe?
There are 4 gas pipelines from Russia to Europe. Nord Stream 1 is the most important line that currently raises a lot of controversy. It connects Russia with Germany via the Baltic Sea, and has the capacity to send about 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
Then there is the Yamal-Europe line, which crosses Poland and Belarus to Germany, and has a capacity to pump 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year, but Russia closed it in response to European sanctions.
Then there is the "Blue-Stream" line, which crosses from Ukraine, and has a capacity to pump 16 billion cubic meters, and finally, the "Turk Stream" line, which has a capacity to pump 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas.
Why is Nord Stream the most important for Europe?
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline extends for 1,200 kilometers and passes through the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast near St. Petersburg to northeastern Germany. This pipeline was opened in 2011 and has a capacity to send a maximum of 170 million cubic meters of gas per day.
It is managed by Nord Stream AG, which is owned by the majority of the Russian company, Gazprom. Before the war, Germany obtained 55% of its gas needs from Russia, specifically from this pipeline, before reducing this percentage to 26% at the end of June from current year.
How did Russia reduce gas supplies to Europe?
In May of this year, the Russian company "Gazprom" announced the closure of the "Yamal-Europe" gas pipeline, which was supplying gas to Germany and a number of European countries.
Then, in June, Russia reduced the volume of pumping in the “Nord Stream 1” line by 75% to move the daily pumping level from 170 million cubic meters of gas to 40 million cubic meters of gas per day, after which the closure of Line 10 will be announced. Iam due to technical issues.
Currently, after pumping back to the same line, Russia has announced the reduction of pumping again, and thus the daily pumping rate does not exceed 20 million cubic meters per day, and this has led to a new rise in gas prices in Europe, and currently gas prices are more than their counterparts in Europe. Last year, about 450%.
How big is the European dependence on Russian gas?
According to a report by the International Energy Agency, Europe's dependence on Russian gas has decreased after the war in Ukraine. In 2021, the European Union imported more than 380 million cubic meters per day of gas, through various pipelines, which represents about 140 billion cubic meters for the year As a whole, Russian gas imports represented 45% of Europe's total gas imports. In return, Europe paid about $440 billion to Russia for gas.
Here is a list of the most European countries importing Russian gas in 2021:
Germany
: 6 billion cubic meters.
Italy
: two billion cubic metres.
Belarus
: 8 billion cubic meters.
Netherlands
: 7 billion cubic metres.
Hungary
: 6 billion cubic metres.
What would happen to Germany without Russian gas?
According to the forecasts of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, if Russia continues to pump gas into the Nord Stream pipeline at only 40% of its capacity, Germany will be able to survive the coming winter without the need Any reduction in energy consumption, and this is due to Germany's increase in the proportion of its import of Russian gas since the beginning of the war.
The worst-case scenario, which the Institute expects, is that Germany will not be able to store all the gas it needs before the onset of the cold season, then the German economy will suffer losses of 283 billion euros per year.
Is Russia blackmailing Europe with the gas file?
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, the researcher at the Global Policy Institute, George Samueli, refuses to describe what Russia is doing as "weaponizing gas", recalling that Germany "freezing work on Nord Stream 2" in February, The European Union is also the one who announced that it will ban energy sources from Russia, and therefore Europe is the one who started using this card to pressure Russia.”
The author of the book "Bombs for Peace" described that what the Europeans did was a "wrong gamble when they raised the ceiling of sanctions and put themselves in a state of chaos," adding that European leaders "did not take into account the great economic losses of the Corona pandemic" and that Their markets are just emerging from a critical stage;
"They enact measures that will further harm the European economy."
George Samueli completely blames European leaders, "because every time they announce their intention to abandon Russian energy, but with the approach of winter and cold, it appears that they are unable to do so, so why do they now accuse Russia of arming gas?"
The same spokesman expected that the energy crisis will become apparent in the autumn, "and will affect the economic and political stability in Europe, especially with the damage to Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe."