A new and substantial
cut announced by Gazprom to Eni
and the stop to flows via pipeline to France mark another black day on the energy front for Europe.
The gas war with Moscow has now entered its heart and sees the Kremlin's strategy gradually emerge with greater clarity: trapping the Old Continent in a spiral made up of skyrocketing prices and increasingly halting supplies.
The cost of methane on the Amsterdam stock exchange jumped by 43% in a week, from 82.5 to 117.74 euros, with a peak of 134 euros per MWh recorded after the new cuts announced by the Russians.
The trend could worsen and a threatening question mark begins to hang on the resilience of common stocks in view of winter in the European capitals.
The day began with bad news for
Italy
.
Faced with a daily request from Eni equal to approximately 63 million cubic meters, Gazprom has announced that it will supply only 50%.
ANSA agency
Italy evaluates the gas alarm, meeting this week - Economy
If the cut in gas supply from Russia continues, from next week the Ministry of Ecological Transition could raise the level of crisis in the national gas system, from early warning to alarm (ANSA)
Only a few hours later it was France that announced that it no longer received methane via the pipeline.
The stop in this case, the explanation arrived from Berlin, is not the effect of a new Russian decision but of the Moscow squeeze on the flows along the Nord Stream 1, which brings energy to Germany.
By cutting off the gas to the easternmost European countries, Moscow creates a domino effect that spreads over almost the entire continent.
And also to the Slovakian supplier Spp, Russia has communicated that, in days, deliveries will be halved.
In the European chancelleries now they no longer have doubts: that of Moscow is a "political decision", as underlined by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the aftermath of the same accusation launched by Prime Minister
Mario Dragh
I, who dismissed the technical reasons as "lies" alleged by Gazprom.
In short, a retaliatory action also following the six sanctions packages imposed by
Brussels
.
"Russia is ready to supply Europe with the gas it needs to fill its storage areas for the winter as long as there are no political obstacles", was on the other hand the clear explanation given today by the minister of ' Russian energy Alexander Novak in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV. The problem is that, compared to a few weeks ago, the range of responses that the EU can access is limited: the sanctions gun seems to be somewhat unloaded both due to the gradual exhaustion of the sectors subject to penalties and for the impossibility of an agreement on the gas embargo.
Indeed, the joke that circulates in these hours in the corridors of Brussels is that at
At the same time, the EU is called to a strong acceleration on common purchasing platforms.
At the moment,
EU stocks travel over 50%
but, with the latest reductions, the 80% target to be reached before winter is moving away.
"There is no indication of an immediate security of supply risk", they assured by the Commission.
And Brussels, meanwhile, recorded the record for imports of liquefied natural gas, with daily peaks of 0.54 billion cubic meters.
Italy, among the alternative suppliers, can count on the side of Algeria, from which at the moment double the gas arrives compared to Russia, whose flows are approaching the volumes of methane arriving from Azerbaijan.
The Italian system is holding up for now but the new cut inflicted by Gazprom increases the shadows on the future, national and European.
In Brussels they explain that Putin's retaliation increases "determination"
The plan, however, has yet to be approved by the EU Council
and Parliament at a time when the European front, for a decisive transition to renewables, is showing cracks and indecisions and is called to the difficult test of the green light to taxonomy in the coming days.
On the diversification of supplies Ursula von der Leyen is moving quickly, but the agreement with Egypt and Israel may not be enough.
And on the horizon there remains, however, a great puzzle to the EU solidarity mechanism: how promptly will it take action in the event that more than one member country finds itself short of energy?
