The gas war of nerves is coming to a climax: Renovation of the turbine or Putin's "perfidious game"?

Gazprom further cuts supplies, Berlin accuses Moscow of playing a perfidious game, the European Union appears to have reached an austerity deal, and Austria is preparing to tap into German gas storage. The war of nerves is coming to a climax.

It was short lived. From Wednesday, July 27 at six o'clock, the North Stream 1 gas pipeline will operate with only 20 percent capacity. This means that only about 33 million cubic meters of gas per day will arrive in Germany from Russia. According to the suppliers, the reason is the overhaul of another turbine.

The German government considers these reasons to be false and suspects that it is an attempt at blackmail. Economy Minister Robert Habek (Greens) accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of playing a "perfidious game".

Berlin: Russia refuses to forward the import documents for the turbine

Further reductions in gas supplies are adding to Germany's concerns. With the current delivery volume of around 66 million cubic meters of gas per day – which is around 40 percent of the gas pipeline's capacity – it was possible to continue filling the warehouse. From Wednesday it will be much more difficult. According to the estimates of the German Federal Network Agency, with such an inflow of gas, problems will appear in January next year, at least if Germany continues to forward gas to other countries.

Last Sunday, Putin threatened that around July 26, there could be a further reduction in gas deliveries through the Northern Stream 1, if the turbine that was undergoing maintenance in Canada is not available on time. The second turbine should be sent for overhaul in the middle of this week.

The German government, for its part, tried to speed up the delivery of the first turbine, and is now criticizing the fact that Russia, as they state in Berlin, does not want to receive that component at all.

"There are no technical reasons for the interruption, the turbine is ready for delivery to Russia," Minister Habek claims.

Customs documents for export are completed, he says, but Russia refuses to forward import documents.

Instead of clearly saying that it is an economic war, says the minister, Gazprom tells "farces about those turbines, which is simply not true".

According to Habek, Putin's strategy is clear: he is trying to "weaken the great support for Ukraine and drive a wedge into our society."

This, it is believed, should be countered by unity and concentrated action - which implies very rapid construction of infrastructure for liquid natural gas, filling of storage facilities and reduction of consumption.

Threatened southern Germany - and what is Austria doing?

After a 1-day regular summer maintenance period during which there were no deliveries, gas flowed through North Stream 21 again last Thursday, July 40, but still only at a reduced volume. As before that maintenance, Russia's Gazprom continued to use only XNUMX percent of the pipeline's capacity. Now that too will be halved.

In Germany, it is feared that the problem of gas supply could first of all affect the southern parts of the country. The industry wants to know whether the south will be in a less favorable position than the north when it comes to emergency gas distribution, Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried, warned at the gas crisis summit in Stuttgart.

At the same time, his colleague from Bavaria, Markus Zeder (CSU), called on the federal government to clarify how in the future his, as well as other German provinces, will be supplied with gas from the Austrian Hajdah warehouse, one of the largest in Europe. This is Zeder's reaction to Austria's announcement that the gas storage near Salzburg, which until now was only connected to the German grid and from which Bavaria was supplied, will now also be connected to the Austrian grid.

EU reached an agreement on austerity?

After Gazprom's latest decision to reduce deliveries, gas prices on the stock exchanges rose again, at times up to ten percent. The European Commission sees in Russia's latest move a proof of how urgently planning is needed at the European level, said the spokesperson of the Commission last night.

By the way, the ministers responsible for energy of the European Union countries will reportedly announce this Tuesday (July 26.7) in Brussels that they have reached an agreement on a plan for emergency situations. According to information from the German agency dpa, an agreement was reached on the plan proposed by the European Commission, according to which EU countries would voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15 percent in the period from August 1 this year to March 31 next year.