Page 25 - RusRPTAug22

2.10 Nord Stream 1 back online, but at 30% capacity which is not enough to avoid a winter energy crisis
Gazprom’s announcement that it was cutting gas flows in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20% of capacity on July 25 means the EU will miss its deadline to fill storage tanks to 80% full by October 1.
German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said the same day that rationing of energy during the winter has become more likely and that Germany needs to reduce consumption of gas by 15%-20% to be sure of getting through the winter. A 15% reduction is equivalent of about 45bcm during the heating season and 60bcm for the whole year, or about a third of all the gas Russia usually sends to the EU.
Brussels proposed EU members unilaterally cut gas consumption by 15% to conserve gas for the winter on July 21, in what proved to be an unpopular move. The southern European states of Greece, Spain and Portugal rebelled and have refused to make the cuts, saying they are not to blame for Germany’s mistake in becoming so dependent on Russian gas and don’t see why they should suffer to bail Germany out.
Gas storage tanks in Europe were 66.7% full as of July 25 (chart) and Germany’s tanks 66.4%. A few countries are already close to the 80% goal or have already reached it, including: Portugal (100%), Poland (98.5%), Sweden (90.8%), Denmark (85.6%) and France (75.5%).
25 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com