Russia restores gas to Europe after 10 days, adhere to agreement, Putin spokesman

Russia has restored gas supplies to Germany from Nord Stream One, a pipeline through the Baltic Sea, warning that it may cut off gas supplies in whole or in part.

Russia supplies gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which it shut down for 10 days to justify annual maintenance of the pipeline system. Europe has been concerned about the interruption of gas supplies from Russia. and European leaders are expressing fears that Russia is cutting off Europe’s gas in response to Western economic sanctions and is using it as a weapon. Germany is one such country. which is highly dependent on Russia for its energy needs and used to buy 55 percent of its gas from Russia before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia has restored gas supplies from Nord Stream One, but the gas The amount is only forty percent compared to before. Russia supplies gas to Europe through Nord Stream One, a pipeline that runs through the Baltic Sea. Russia had also completed the Nord Stream 2 project at a cost of 12 billion dollars to supply more gas to Europe, but after the Russian aggression on Ukraine, Germany has temporarily stopped the process of supplying gas from Nord Stream 2. The European Commission on Wednesday asked its member states to cut gas consumption by 15 percent over the next seven months to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

Europe gets forty percent of its gas needs from Russia. Among the European countries, Germany is among the countries that are highly dependent on Russian gas and by 2020, it would buy 55% of its gas from Russia.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany is trying to reduce its dependence on Russia and now buys 35% of its gas from Russia, which it wants to eliminate completely in the future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to play down concerns about gas supplies to Europe, saying Russian company Gazprom will honor all its contracts. Germany’s network regulator, Claus Mueller, warned in a Twitter message that the resumption of gas resupply from Nord Stream One does not signal an improvement in Russia’s relations. Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland have cut off gas supplies due to disagreements over how to pay for gas. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany began to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. If Russia suddenly cut off Germany’s gas supply, it could severely affect the German economy and trigger a recession. All industries in Germany depend on gas and the majority of homes in Germany are heated with gas.

Currently, the amount of gas reserves in Germany has decreased to 64%.

Europe’s dependence on Russian gas

European countries are the largest buyers of oil and gas from Russia, and since the beginning of the war, the European Union has paid Russia 60 billion euros in fossil fuel. Last month, the European Union said that the price of energy to Russia One billion euros are being paid daily, which is 35 times more than the EU’s aid to Ukraine. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the EU is considering stopping the purchase of gas and oil from Russia. has started to do, but the countries of the European Union are also divided on this issue. The German Minister of Energy said that Germany will be able to deal with the ban on Russian oil by the end of this year, but not with the ban on gas. According to Energy, Germany imported the world’s largest amount of gas from Russia in 2020, at 42.6 billion cubic meters. The European Union worries that its dependence on Russian fossil fuels could finance Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, in 2021, the International Energy Agency estimated that 45 percent of Russia’s federal budget comes from oil and gas revenues. In total, the European Union bought 41 percent of its total gas demand from Russia in 2019.

Can Europe survive without Russian gas?

The European Union imports 61 percent of its energy needs, of which 41 percent comes from Russia if we talk about gas alone. If the gas supply is completely cut off, the amount of gas stored in EU countries will fall to the lowest level in a decade by next April. April is when the temperature starts to rise. And European countries generally start increasing their gas reserves in preparation for next winter. A cutoff from Russia would mean that they would need to find other sources of gas. And this situation could mean that European countries would increase the amount of gas they buy. They extract from the reserves in their country or will turn to countries like North Africa and Azerbaijan for import.