While Gazprom announced on Friday the maintenance of the closure of its Nord Stream gas pipeline, essential for the supply of gas to Europe, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, reacted to the possibility of a total closure of Russian gas deliveries. In fact, the top leader assured on Saturday that the European Union was “well prepared” in the event of a total interruption of deliveries, thanks to energy storage and saving measures.
The Russian giant Gazprom announced this Friday that the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which links Russia with northern Germany, would finally stop “completely” until the repair of a turbine, without specifying a deadline. It was originally scheduled to resume service this Saturday after a three-day break for maintenance operations.
Meanwhile, turbine manufacturer Siemens Energy reacted to this announcement by saying that the “leaks” mentioned by the Russian giant did not justify stopping the pipeline.
A cap on Russian oil prices
Moscow was thus reacting to the decision announced on Friday by the G7 countries to target Russia’s energy windfall by agreeing to cap the price of its oil. In addition, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday that “it would be time” to put a cap on the price of gas imported by pipeline from Russia, thus backing a measure advocated by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. .
In the European Union, “gas storage is currently around 80%, thanks to the diversification of supplies,” although the situation differs from country to country, Paolo Gentiloni said.
Brussels “has done a lot in recent months” but “today it is possible to do more”, because “the wall of divisions that has blocked the Commission’s action in recent months has many gaps”, congratulated the European commissioner.
The objective is “to pursue the strategy of a united Europe that fights against the invasion of Ukraine using the economic weapon,” he explained. “We are not participating in a war, we are not participating in a military escalation”, but “we support Ukraine” and “we have to do it more effectively now”, she insisted.
Source: BFM TV
