U.S. presidential coordinator for global energy Amos Hochstein has departed to Paris and Brussels to discuss U.S.-European contingency planning in case of gas shortages in winter. According to CNN, “the Biden administration is working furiously behind the scenes to keep European allies united against Russia as Moscow further cuts its energy supplies to the European Union, prompting panic on both sides of the Atlantic over potentially severe gas shortages heading into winter, U.S. officials say.”
On July 25, Russia’s Gazprom announced that it would be taking a second turbine offline for maintenance as of today, further reducing shipments of oil through the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline from 40% of capacity down to 20% — or a maximum of 33 million cubic meters per day. This caused a jump in the price of gas to $2,020 per 1,000 cubic meters, breaking $2,000 for the first time since March. A first Siemens turbine that was sent to Canada for maintenance has still not been put back online, because Gazprom has yet to receive adequate documentation, including “an official explanation from the European Commission … to verify that the turbine’s return does not breach Canadian, EU, and U.K. sanctions,” according to the Russian daily Kommersant, which added that “Gazprom was one step away from shutting down gas deliveries via Nord Stream.”
The unnamed U.S. official cited by CNN stated that Russia’s reduction of Nord Stream 1 flow to 20% puts the West in “unchartered territory” [sic] and that “this was our biggest fear.” CNN added: “It will also be a major test of European resilience and unity against Russia, as the Kremlin shows no signs of retreating from Ukraine.… There will also be discussions in the coming days about increasing nuclear power production across Europe to offset gas shortages, officials said.”
The London Economist ran an article dismissing the European decision earlier this week to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% as insufficient. “It will not really solve the problem at hand: how the EU should respond if Russia halts or radically reduces supplies—something that seems increasingly likely.”
