“A temporary closure of the Nord Stream pipeline will increase prices,” said the Italian Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani.
“Freezes” Europe, especially Western and Northern Europe, the even temporary closing of the natural gas pipeline tap Nord Stream from Russia, with official justification for maintenance work. Analysts, however, fear the “nothing more permanent than temporary” scenario with the prospect of a complete interruption of supply.
The head of the German federal network agency (Bundesnetzagentur), Klaus Müller, does not rule out the possibility of deciding to cut off the electricity supply to households, even a bulletin.
Gazprom’s natural gas pipeline will be temporarily closed both lines of its natural gas pipeline system for routine maintenance work, its operator said Friday. As Reuters notes, the schedule for maintenance activities has been closely coordinated with Nord Stream partners, he added. The space will remain closed July 11-21. Analysts, however, fear the “nothing more permanent than temporary” scenario with the prospect of a complete interruption of supply.
“Prices will rise”
“The Nord Stream pipeline, as announced by Russia, will be closed for two weeks, for maintenance. This means there will be even less natural gas and prices will rise,” Italian Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani told Sky Italia television.
“The gas market is speculative and a new attempt will be made, as much as possible for more storage,” added the Italian minister.
Finally, Roberto Cingolani emphasized that “Italy has covered 60% of its gas storage capacity and wants to reach 90%.” A percentage which, according to the government of Rome, is a realistic target”.
Unprecedented situations in Germany
Sharp declines in Russian natural gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline are prompting German authorities to make urgent preparations for the possibility of an extremely harsh winter in Germany.
“If we come to the point of imposing rationing, we will need to reduce industrial consumption first,” explained the head of the federal network agency (Bundesnetzagentur) in an interview published today Saturday in the publications of the Funke media group.
Although Mr. Müller assured that Germany is not currently facing shortages of electricity, oil or gasoline, he stressed that households must focus their efforts in energy saving to reduce gas consumption.
Even if Russia stopped deliveries altogether, Germany would continue to receive quantities from pipelines in Norway and the Netherlands and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from other countries, Mr. Miller noted.
“Entertainment products and services are a lower priority (…). Swimming pools are clearly not critical, nor is the production of chocolate chip cookies,” he said. “We cannot consider every business to be systemically important,” warned Mr. Miller.
Meanwhile, the Russian natural gas company Gazprom announced that the supply of natural gas to Europe via the Sunja import point in Ukraine was recorded at 42.15 million cubic meters (mcm) today, compared to 42.1 million cubic meters yesterday.
An application to supply Russian natural gas through the Sokranovka import point was again rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said in a statement.
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