Russia realizes the threat against Europe - stops gas supply
Russian energy giant Gazprom has halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, claiming they did not pay for the shipments in rubles - as Russia demanded.
President Putin has warned the rest of its union states against a similar move.
What does it mean to stop Russian gas exports?
Tali Goldstein
27/04/2022
Wednesday, 27 April 2022, 13:50 Updated: 17:05
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
Share on general
Comments
Comments
Russian energy giant Gazprom today (Wednesday) halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, claiming that they did not pay for the shipments in rubles - as Russia demanded.
This is the Kremlin's sharpest response so far to the sanctions imposed on it by the West after the invasion of Ukraine.
Poland and Bulgaria are the first countries to which gas supply has been stopped by the main supplier in Europe.
"Gazprom has completely froze gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland due to lack of payments in rubles," the Russian company said in a statement.
Gazprom contacted the state-owned gas companies of Poland and Bulgaria yesterday and informed them that supply to them would be stopped the next day.
Poland said supplies had indeed stopped, while the situation in Bulgaria was still unclear.
Polish oil and gas company PGNiG has announced that it is monitoring the situation and is "ready for various scenarios", as well as receiving gas from other sources.
For now, she says, there is enough gas in Poland to meet demand.
Bulgaria said it was a Russian "blackmail" and a breach of the current contract.
Ursula von der Lane, president of the European Commission, said that breach of Gazprom's contract was a problem for the whole of Europe, and that the EU would respond to it.
"Europeans can believe that we will stand united in full solidarity with the member states that will be affected by the new challenge. Europeans can count on our full support," she said in a statement.
Vyacheslav Volodyn, a spokesman for the lower house of the Russian parliament, similar, said in response that Gazprom had made the right decision, and that Moscow should act similarly towards other "unfriendly" countries.
He added that Russia was ready for the possibility that Europe would stop buying gas from it.
More on Walla!
Here's how to do it right: it's time to start planning your summer vacation
In collaboration with ICC
The approval process has been frozen.
Nord Stream 2 (Photo: Reuters)
Poland imports about 45% of its natural gas from Russia.
In 2020, Bulgaria imported about 73% of its gas from Russia.
The EU imports 40% of Russia's natural gas each year.
Russia demanded earlier this year that countries that import gas from it pay in rubles, which provoked a backlash from those countries, including Poland and Bulgaria, who refused the demand and said it was a breach of contract.
The demand follows the freezing of Russian assets and the removal of Russia from the Western economic system.
"From April 1, payments for gas will be in rubles. All parties received a warning in time," Gazprom said.
Russia's State Gas Company, Gazprom (Photo: Reuters, REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov)
Although the frozen winter in Europe has passed, disruptions in gas supplies to European countries are one of Russia's most serious threats to the West.
Europe depends on Russia for 40% of its natural gas, with most passing through a gas pipeline.
The total Russian gas supply to Europe last year was 155 billion cubic meters (BCM), 52 BCM of the amount passing through Ukraine.
Alternative channels include the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which crosses Belarus and Poland to Germany, and the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which passes under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
US President Joe Biden has boycotted Russian oil and other imported energy products, and Britain has announced that it will gradually stop importing Russian gas by the end of 2022. The EU has announced plans to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year and end its dependence on Russian supplies altogether "Long before 2030."
Germany, the largest consumer of Russian gas, has also halted the process of approving the new gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which is leaving Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.
It can import gas from the UK, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands through other pipelines.
The German Infrastructure Association BDEW has called for the formulation of a government emergency plan to prepare the country for disruptions in Russian gas supply.
The Norwegian company Aquinor has announced that it is considering ways to produce more gas from the Norwegian fields during the summer season where productivity usually drops due to performing maintenance and infrastructure inspections.
Southern Europe can get gas from Azerbaijan through the Trans-Adriatic pipeline to Italy and the trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline through Turkey.
The United States has announced that it will supply 15 BCM of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU this year.
Senior officials in the US administration did not elaborate on the exact amount that will come from the United States itself.
Natural gas facilities in the United States are already producing at their peak output, and according to analysts, most of the additional U.S. gas shipped to Europe will come from exports to another location that will change its designation.
Some countries can fill the shortage of natural gas either by switching to using electricity imported through neighboring bridging cables or by increasing electricity production from nuclear, renewable or coal sources.
The European Commission said liquefied natural gas from countries like the United States and Qatar could replace Russian supplies of 60 BCM.
Germany has announced that it will continue to use coal or nuclear energy to reduce its dependence on Russia.
In past crises, countries have also tried to reduce industrial production to reduce gas use, used generators, ordered households to reduce energy consumption or ordered initiated power outages.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: Reuters)
In the last 15 years, conflicts have erupted between Ukraine and Russia over gas, mainly due to price.
In 2006 Gazprom withdrew supplies to Ukraine for one day.
In the winter of 2008-9, Europe suffered from supply disruptions on the part of Russia.
In 2014, Russia halted supplies to Kiev after annexing the Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine, for its part, stopped buying Russian gas in November 2015 and imported gas from the European Union.
Victim: Climate (Photo: AP)
Europe's main problem now is the commitments of European countries to reduce polluting carbon emissions by phasing out the use of oil and gas and switching to renewable energies.
Russia's actions are proving, unfortunately, that the world is far from able to stop using fossil fuels that have caused the climate crisis.
Standard Chartered Bank CEO said Monday that it is "ridiculous and naive" to think that fossil fuel production could be stopped immediately with no consequences. In an interview with CNBC, Bill Winters said the idea that we can just turn off the taps and finish The use of fossil fuels tomorrow, is ridiculous and naive.
First, it's not going to happen.
"Second, it will cause significant disruption."
However, according to Rami Reshef, CEO of Gencel, "Russian gas disconnection is a wake-up call for those countries in Europe, which if they had been prepared ahead of time for wind and solar energy use, and disconnected from gas, their situation would be less bad now.
In addition, those countries did not make a satisfactory effort to change the energy sources that served those years, until they encountered the current energy crisis.
Now, that may be too late for them.
"Russia's move towards Poland and Bulgaria is also a clear indication of Israel's need to become an energetically independent state. Here too, despite the gas discoveries, the need to decentralize energy sources is dramatic and significant. .
news
World news
Europe
Tags
Ukraine
jazz
Russia
Poland
Bulgaria
The European Union