Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register July 11 (Reuters) – The Nord Stream 1 pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia to Germany will undergo scheduled maintenance from Monday, raising concerns about gas supplies to Europe if the outage is prolonged. read more Russian gas flows through Nord Stream 1 have already been reduced to 40% of capacity. read more Ukraine also cut a natural gas transit route to Europe in May, blaming occupation Russian forces, and several European countries were cut off from Russian gas after failing to comply with a new payment mechanism. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The following describes Europe’s options.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ROUTES FOR RUSSIAN GAS TO EUROPE?
Russia supplies about 40% of Europe’s natural gas, mostly through pipelines. Deliveries last year were around 155 billion cubic meters (bcm). Ukraine’s transit corridor mainly sends gas to Austria, Italy, Slovakia and other Eastern European states. Ukraine has closed the Sokhranovka transit pipeline that passes through Russian-occupied territories in the east of the country. European countries are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian gas. Some have already been cut off from Russian supplies after rejecting Russia’s demand to pay in rubles. Others, including Germany, still need Russian gas and are trying to replenish depleted gas reserves. Alternative routes to Europe that do not go through Ukraine include the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which crosses Belarus and Poland to Germany, and Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The Yamal-Europe pipeline has a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters (bcm), about one-sixth of Russian gas exports to Europe. Gas has been flowing east through the pipeline from Germany to Poland since the beginning of this year. Moscow has imposed sanctions on the owner of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe. However, Poland can manage without reverse flow of natural gas in the Yamal pipeline, Poland’s climate minister said. Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have received lower volumes through Nord Stream 1. The Kremlin said the reduced supplies through Nord Stream 1 were not premeditated, blaming Western sanctions for a delay in the return of equipment sent for maintenance to Canada. Flows will drop to zero when Nord Stream 1’s annual maintenance shutdown begins on July 11.
WHERE ELSE CAN EUROPE GET GAS?
Some countries have alternative supply options and Europe’s gas grid is connected so supplies can be shared, although the global gas market was tight even before the Ukraine crisis. Germany, the biggest consumer of Russian gas in Europe that has stopped certification of Russia’s new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline because of the war in Ukraine, could import gas from Britain, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands through pipelines. Norway, Europe’s second-biggest exporter after Russia, is pushing production to help the European Union meet its goal of ending dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Britain’s Centrica ( CNA.L ) has signed a deal with Norway’s Equinor ( EQNR.OL ) for additional UK gas supplies for the next three winters. Britain does not rely on Russian gas and can also export to Europe via pipelines. Southern Europe can receive Azeri gas through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline to Italy and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) through Turkey. The United States said it could supply 15 bcm of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year. read more U.S. LNG plants are producing at full capacity, and an explosion last month at a major LNG export terminal in Texas will keep it idle until September and only partially operational from then until the end of 2022. Europe’s LNG terminals also have limited capacity for additional imports, although some European countries say they are looking for ways to expand imports and storage. Germany is among the countries looking to build new LNG terminals. It plans to build two in just two years. Poland, which meets about 50% of its gas consumption with Russian gas, or about 10 bcm, has said it can get gas through two connections to Germany. In October, a pipeline will open allowing up to 10 bcm of natural gas to flow annually between Poland and Norway.
ARE THERE OTHER OPTIONS TO ADDRESS GAS STRAINS?
Several nations could seek to fill any gap in energy supply by diverting electricity imports through interconnections from their neighbors or by boosting electricity generation from nuclear, renewables, hydropower or coal. Nuclear availability is declining in Belgium, Britain, France and Germany, with plants facing outages as they age, are decommissioned or phased out. Europe is trying to shift away from coal to meet climate targets, but some coal plants have been restarted since mid-2021 due to rising gas prices. read more Germany has activated stage two of three of its gas emergency plan and Economy Minister Robert Habeck has warned that his country is heading for gas shortages if Russian supplies remain as low as they are now and some industries have to shut down in the winter. The Dutch energy minister said his field in Groningen could be called on to help neighboring countries in the event of a complete cut-off in Russian supplies, but increasing output could trigger earthquakes. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Nina Chestney. Editor: Barbara Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
