EU warned of gas shortages ahead of winter
EU members will not be able to fill their gas storage facilities before winter unless new steps are taken, Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said on Monday.
“We see that the overall supply of gas from Russia to Europe is rapidly declining. This means that without additional measures it is no longer possible to guarantee that we will be able to fill gas storage facilities in Europe (sic) and the Netherlands enough to prepare for winter,” Jetten warned, as cited by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. He did not specify what additional measures he was referring to.
Jetten also noted that the Netherlands is already taking steps to prepare for the heating season, but did not elaborate specifics. He added that for current purposes, his country has enough gas.
“I want to emphasize that at the moment there’s no acute gas shortage,” Jetten stated, noting, however, that “more countries are now being squeezed” by Russia.
Jetten’s comments follow a decision by Russia’s Gazprom to slash natural gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline by some 60%. This happened after German maintenance provider Siemens failed to return pumping units from repairs in Canada, due to anti-Russia sanctions.
European officials slammed the cutbacks as political, but Russia maintains that the problem is technical, as the facility in question, that pumps gas from Russia to Germany, is unable to perform with only three pumping units out of eight in operation.
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