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Gazprom claims turbine delivery is "impossible" - Habeck against VAT on gas surcharge

2022-08-15T03:04:52.792Z


Gazprom claims turbine delivery is "impossible" - Habeck against VAT on gas surcharge Created: 08/15/2022, 05:00 By: Patricia Huber The continued operation of the nuclear power plant has become a hot topic due to the gas crisis. But there is still disagreement. All information about the gas crisis in the news ticker. Habeck against VAT on the gas levy : Finance Minister Lindner is still hesita


Gazprom claims turbine delivery is "impossible" - Habeck against VAT on gas surcharge

Created: 08/15/2022, 05:00

By: Patricia Huber

The continued operation of the nuclear power plant has become a hot topic due to the gas crisis.

But there is still disagreement.

All information about the gas crisis in the news ticker.

  • Habeck

    against VAT

    on the

    gas levy

    : Finance Minister Lindner is still hesitating.

  • Gas storage tanks

    are already

    70 percent full

    : This brings the goal of 75 percent by September 1 within reach.

  • Canadian government defends turbine delivery

    : A ban on the execution was "unworkable".

  • This news ticker on the gas crisis is constantly updated.

Update from August 6, 9:22 a.m .:

In the gas crisis, Robert Habeck plays a central role as Minister of Economics in the Federal Republic.

The Green politician has to prove his crisis suitability more than ever.

His visit to Qatar some time ago caused a lot of explosiveness.

A deal was closed, large gas deliveries announced.

So far, however, these have not come up.

Was the trip free?

In any case, the sheikhs are apparently leaving Robert Habeck hanging in the gas crisis.

Update from August 5, 4:38 p.m.:

The gas levy decided by the Federal Cabinet to relieve gas importers is causing lively discussions.

But there is also the gas storage levy.

The deputy head of the Union faction, Jens Spahn (CDU), warns that this would put further burdens on consumers.

But what is it all about?

The gas storage surcharge is intended to reimburse the company responsible for the German gas market organization, Trading Hub Europe (THE), for the costs it incurs to ensure security of supply, for example for the purchase of gas.

The aim is to comply with the fill level specifications for the gas storage tanks.

They should be at least 95 percent full by November 1st.

The amount of the levy is still unknown.

According to THE, the surcharge will be determined for the first time on October 1, 2022.

According to paragraph 35e of the Energy Industry Act, the costs are to be passed on to the “balancing group managers” “in a non-discriminatory manner and in a transparent process”.

The balancing group managers are the gas suppliers who organize the gas flow for a specific market area.

Habeck against VAT on the gas levy

Update from August 5, 2:12 p.m .:

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck demands that the citizens of the planned gas levy should not be additionally burdened with VAT.

"It would be wrong to charge VAT on the levy," Habeck told the

Tagesspiegel

.

"The surcharge is a difficult step, but it is necessary to ensure the gas supply.

But it should not be additionally increased by value added tax," emphasized the Vice Chancellor.

"I am sure that the colleagues in the Ministry of Finance see it that way," he emphasized, referring to Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).

Legally, including under European law, this is complex.

But he hopes that the Federal Ministry of Finance will find a way.

Gas storage already 70 percent full

Update from August 5, 11:59 a.m .:

The filling level of the German natural gas storage tanks is approaching the 75 percent mark despite the greatly reduced delivery volumes from Russia.

As emerged on Friday from data published on the Internet by European gas storage operators, the value last Wednesday was 70.4 percent.

The fill level is always reported two days late.

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A new regulation stipulates that German storage facilities must be at least 75 percent full by September 1st.

Since Wednesday last week, the delivery volumes from the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline have only been around 20 percent of capacity.

Canadian government defends turbine shipment

Update from August 5, 8:57 a.m .:

The Canadian government has defended the delivery of the Canadian-maintained turbine for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany before a parliamentary committee.

At a convened meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson emphasized that they had thus maintained cohesion with allies in Germany and Europe.

The government had come under pressure for handing over the unit.

"I cannot overstate the great concern on the part of Germans - but also on the part of the European Union - about the potential impact of having virtually no access to natural gas," Wilkinson said.

A ban on the export of the turbine was "unfeasible" in light of Germany's dependence on Russian gas.

Söder, Merz and Aiwanger are in favor of the continued operation of nuclear power plants

Update from August 4, 1:27 p.m .:

"It's finally time to act": With these words, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) starts the press statement after his visit to the Isar 2 nuclear power plant. He also explains that his visit with Friedrich Merz (CDU ) and Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) was an informational visit.

The result: the nuclear power plant can continue to operate.

Söder describes the fact that Bavaria is lagging behind in the expansion of renewable energies as a "blatant lie".

Friedrich Merz also confirms that continued operation is possible.

He urges the federal government to make a decision quickly.

In his press statement, Hubert Aiwanger also urges the federal government to make a quick decision on Isar 2, since the current fuel rods could continue to produce electricity for months to come.

"I accuse the federal government of having misled the public in recent months by using false pretenses," says Aiwanger.

After visiting the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz spoke out in favor of continued operation.

© Peter Kneffel/dpa

SPD deputy speaks out against nuclear power plant extension

Update from August 4, 11:33 a.m .:

The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch is against extending the life of the remaining nuclear power plants beyond a short period of time.

The current energy security stress test is only intended to examine whether short-term operation of the remaining piles is a solution, said Miersch in the RTL

and

ntv

program “Frühstart”

on Thursday.

He called debates about a further extension of the term until 2024 “show discussions”.

Miersch said that those who demand this do not actually want the energy transition.

"They want to slow down renewables and they want to go back to an antiquated energy policy."

Gazprom calls turbine delivery "impossible" - blame the sanctions

Update from August 4, 8:34 a.m .:

The turbine for Nord Stream 1 is still stuck in Germany.

According to the gas company Gazprom, a delivery to Russia is "impossible".

The sanctions imposed on Moscow are to blame.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the company also cited "ambiguities in the current situation regarding Siemens' contractual obligations."

Both together make "the delivery impossible".

With the lack of the Siemens turbine, which had been serviced in Canada, the Russian energy company Gazprom had justified the reduction of gas deliveries to only 20 percent of the possible extent.

Abolition of VAT on the gas levy is being examined

Update from August 3, 3:21 p.m .:

The coalition is examining the elimination of VAT on the planned state gas levy.

That said the energy policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Michael Kruse, the German Press Agency on Wednesday after a special session of the Energy and Climate Committee of the Bundestag.

“The levy must not be a basis for further tax revenue.

That's why it's currently being checked whether the VAT can be applied to the levy," said Kruse.

"If this is not technically possible, it is clear to me that the additional government revenue must be returned to consumers together with further relief," says Kruse.

There are also legal problems with the implementation of the gas surcharge.

Specifically, the question is whether customers with fixed-price contracts have to pay the levy.

A spokesman for Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) spoke on Wednesday of a detail that had to be clarified.

Russia speaks of further problems with Nord Stream 1

Update from August 3, 2:27 p.m .:

Russia has again rejected any blame for the still uninstalled turbine in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

The turbine is now in Germany, but the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, as the owner, still lacks the necessary papers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, according to the

Interfax

news agency .

Peskow also warned against sanctioning the turbine and possibly switching it off remotely in the end.

Another machine is having problems, but technicians from a Siemens subsidiary "are in no hurry to fix it," the Kremlin spokesman claimed.

Russia only ever speaks of Siemens, but what is meant is the company Siemens Energy.

Weil continues to reject fracking: Söder "unfortunately cut himself"

Update from August 3, 1:49 p.m .:

Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) has confirmed his rejection of the controversial gas fracking.

With a view to the question of how energy can be made available in Germany as quickly as possible, Weil said on Wednesday in Hanover: "Fracking will simply not be able to contribute to this." In the best case, such projects can be made common in three to five years.

Weil was convinced that the energy crisis had long since been overcome by this time.

A few days ago, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU)

raised the question of using domestic gas reserves in the

Süddeutsche Zeitung with a view to the energy shortage resulting from the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

“Nobody wants yesterday’s fracking.

But it makes sense to check whether there are new and environmentally friendly methods," said the CSU leader.

“According to experts, there are large natural gas fields in Lower Saxony in particular,” he added.

Weil said that if Söder thinks he can solve Bavaria's current problems with it, "unfortunately he cut himself."

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil spoke out clearly against the fracking of natural gas in Germany.

© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa

Gas prices have tripled: government is reluctant to make forecasts

Update from August 3, 12:02 p.m .: According to the comparison

portal Verivox

, consumer prices for gas have

reached new record values.

Gas costs have tripled year-on-year,

Verivox

announced on Wednesday.

Although the federal government stated that further developments on the energy market are not foreseeable, the portal nevertheless assumes further price increases.

"However, the price will rise significantly higher, because the wholesale prices for gas are currently well above this level," analyzed the portal.

"Therefore, consumers must be prepared for further price increases in the coming months."

In addition, there is the gas levy announced by the government, with which additional costs for importers due to missing deliveries from Russia are to be passed on to all gas customers, explained

Verivox

.

For the example family with an annual consumption of 20,000 kilowatt hours, “taking VAT into account, this means additional costs of between 357 and 1190 euros”.

However, the federal government explained that "in view of the uncertain and volatile situation on the energy markets", the development of end consumer prices for gas, electricity and fuel cannot yet be mapped.

Nuclear power plant extension "can make sense"

Update from August 3, 10:48 a.m .:

Olaf Scholz has made it clear that from a technical point of view there is no reason to reduce gas deliveries from Russia to Germany.

"There are no technical reasons for non-compliance with the supply contracts," he explained when Siemens Energy visited the turbine planned for Nord Stream 1.

The Chancellor also addressed the issue of nuclear power plants and their lifetime extension.

Since part of Germany's electricity is also produced using gas, this is now being discussed.

In this way, the power supply could become more independent again.

The power plants are "only relevant for electricity production and only for a small part of it," said Scholz in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

"But it can still make sense."

Scholz referred to the "different" expansion of renewable energies in the federal states.

"You know that in Bavaria in particular, progress was very slow with the expansion of wind energy." The expansion of the transmission grids in the south also "did not progress as quickly as planned".

All of this must be taken into account.

Before making a decision, however, the result of the current renewed stress test on the energy supply should first be awaited, said Scholz. 

Scholz considers the turbine situation to be "clear and simple"

Update from August 3, 9:37 a.m .:

During his visit to the Nord Stream 1 turbine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained that nothing stood in the way of the turbine being transported further.

Only Russia would still have to approve the delivery.

He describes the situation as "clear and simple".

But Scholz also knows: "It must be clear that there are always presumed reasons that something does not work." Germany must be prepared at all times for gas supplies to be further curtailed.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz inspecting the turbine for Nord Stream 1. © Bernd Thissen/dpa

Olaf Scholz inspects turbine for Nord Stream 1: "Blow up Putin's bluff"

First report from August 3, 9:31 a.m .:

Berlin/Mülheim an der Ruhr/Montreal – In the gas dispute with Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to visit the turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Wednesday, which is on the way from Canada to Russia temporarily stored in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

This was announced by the energy technology group Siemens Energy on Tuesday.

The turbine is ready for onward transport to Russia, it said.

Gas crisis: Delivery of the turbine by Canada as a "strong sign"

In an interview with the Canadian newspaper

The Globe and Mail

, Scholz defended the delivery, which is controversial because of the circumvention of sanctions.

"By delivering the turbine, we blew up Putin's bluff," he said.

"He can no longer use this pretext and no longer bring up technical reasons for the lack of gas deliveries."

Scholz defended Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was under pressure because of the turbine deliveries.

"For me, the criticism of Justin Trudeau and his government is completely unfounded," he said.

"The decision to supply the turbine is hardly a favor to Gazprom, but rather a strong sign of support for Germany and Europe."

Gazprom justification: Turbine as reason for throttled gas supply

Since June, Russia has cut back gas supplies via Nord Stream 1.

The energy company Gazprom justified this with the missing turbine.

According to the Russian energy company Gazprom, it is important in order to build up the pressure required to pump the gas through.

Gazprom has repeatedly accused its contractual partner Siemens Energy of not having sent the necessary documents and information to repair the machine.

Siemens Energy had denied Gazprom's allegations.

According to the Kremlin, Russia is hoping for a speedy return of the repaired gas turbine in view of the reduced gas supplies through the pipeline.

According to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, she has been in Germany since July 18.

(dpa/ph)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-15

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