Η Germany would be able to meet its energy needs for a period of two and a half months of a normal winter if its storage facilities gas have an occupancy of 100%, as Klaus Miller, the head of the network management service, said yesterday, Thursday.
Miller added that Europe's largest economy needs additional suppliers and needs to save gas.
«If the storage facilities in Germany have an occupancy of 100%, we could cope without any Russian gas for just 2.5 months and then the storage tanks would be empty,» Miller said, speaking on German public television ZDF's Maybrit Illner programme.
He noted that the gas supply situation is tense but remains stable.
Berlin, however, has since yesterday activated the second stage of the alert, the Emergency Mechanism for Security of Gas Supply and already describes gas as a «scarce commodity» in the country, speaks of a «gas crisis» and warns of its wider consequences.
Declaring the second level of alert on gas, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck issued a rare warning when he said that Russia and its policy of reducing gas flows to put political pressure on European economies could be the Lehman Brothers of European energy companies and the European energy system. As he pointed out, «energy companies are forced to buy gas at higher prices, their losses are constantly increasing and they may collapse en masse.».
The activation of the second level of alert is Berlin's reaction to the recent reduction of gas flows to Germany and other European countries, and there is concern about the possibility of a complete disruption of flows.
There have, moreover, been warnings from the International Energy Agency that the reduction in flows may be a prelude to a complete cut-off of supplies from Moscow. As Mr Habeck pointed out, given the reduction in gas flows, it becomes almost impossible for Germany to ensure sufficient gas reserves for the winter without taking additional measures.
At the same time, natural gas prices rose 5.8% to their highest levels in a week and electricity prices in Europe rose 4.5% to 256 euros per megawatt hour, their highest levels since December.
However, no agreement on the imposition of a cap on the price of natural gas is expected at the EU Summit today. European officials say that the European Commission's proposal is not ready, while no consensus has been reached on how the cap could be implemented. The same sources stress that some countries still view the cap with particular caution as they believe it could worsen the situation.
Calling on Germans to curb consumption, the German minister stressed that for the time being there will be no rationing of gas consumption and companies will not be allowed to pass on the increased costs to consumers immediately. At the same time, he accused the Russian president of launching an «economic attack» on Germany and that the reduction in gas supplies was being used as a «weapon against Germany». Germany has activated the gas emergency mechanism since March, when tensions began to escalate after the Kremlin demanded that European countries pay for Russian gas in rubles.
Should the third stage of this mechanism be declared, then the state takes responsibility for the distribution of gas, ensuring first the heating of households and energy for hospitals and emergency services. The largest European economy imports from Russia more than 1/3 of its gas supplies. Alongside Germany, however, the reduction in gas flows from Gazprom has affected 12 EU member states, and 10 of them have mobilised similar emergency mechanisms to Germany's.
