In an interview with the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung last weekend, Christof Günther, Managing Director of the Leuna Chemical Park, called for Russian gas imports to be resumed via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, from outside St. Petersburg via the Baltic Sea to Germany. After three years of war, it was “time to rethink the strategy,” he said. The persistently high energy prices in Germany since the cap on Russian oil, were “not competitive.” “The supply must be expanded so that prices fall.” The Leuna Chemical Park is the largest chemical site in Germany. It provides around 12,000 jobs in the south of Saxony-Anhalt.
For Günther, the situation in the chemical industry in Germany is “serious.” The sector’s number of employees has been falling continuously since last year, and production facilities are only operating at 70%-80% capacity. This “undesirable development cannot be corrected overnight,” he warned, but added: “Nevertheless, we need relief now to prevent further irreparable damage.”
