Germany sounds gas crisis alarm

Germany’s Federal Network Agency announced on Monday that the situation with natural gas in the country was tense and may further deteriorate.

The regulator stated it was “monitoring the situation very closely and is in constant contact with gas industry enterprises.” 

However, it noted that gas supplies to the country are stable at present. The level of gas occupancy in storage facilities exceeds 60%, according to the agency.

The head of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, Kerstin Andreae, pointed out that “because of Russia sanctions, Germany has to bet on coal <...> We are displacing gas in order to become more independent of fossil energy and Russian gas.” 

Berlin announced earlier that the country had made a “bitter” decision to restart coal power plants in order to cope with a possible energy crisis this coming winter.

This month, Russian gas flows to Germany through the undersea Nord Stream pipeline were cut by as much as 60% due to technical issues arising from Western sanctions against Moscow. In response to this, the German government launched the second ‘alarm’ phase of its three-level gas emergency plan. Berlin has warned it’s facing a severe shortage of the fuel amid diminishing flows from Russia.

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