(Photo: imago images / Future Image)
Paris The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has accused Russia of worsening the natural gas crisis in Europe. Fatih Birol said on Wednesday that the high prices and low storage levels were largely due to the behavior of the state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom.
Russia is able to provide up to a third more gas through the existing pipelines, he said – which would amount to about ten percent of daily European consumption. This would roughly correspond to the amount that, according to industry representatives, would be necessary to prevent a severe shortage in the event of colder weather than expected.
In contrast to other pipeline operators such as Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan, which increased their deliveries to Europe, Gazprom reduced its exports to Europe by 25 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year – “despite high market prices,” said Birol.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has underlined that Gazprom has met its long-term contractual delivery obligations. He attributed the high gas prices to European decisions. Among other things, he stated that German gas customers had resold Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine instead of satisfying their own market needs.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Other factors that contributed to the low gas reserves in Europe were a cold winter last year, less energy from renewable sources and high gas demand in Asia in the summer.
Russia is able to provide up to a third more gas through the existing pipelines, said the IEA executive director.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
When asked by journalists, Birol avoided saying directly that Russia was using gas to exert political pressure on Western Europe. He noted that low gas supplies from Russia to Europe coincided with heightened geopolitical tensions over Ukraine. “I just wanted to emphasize this coincidence,” he said.
Russia has stationed a number of soldiers near the border with Ukraine and is demanding that the neighboring country not join the NATO military alliance in the future. At the same time, Russia is waiting for the approval of the German and EU regulatory authorities to put the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation, through which Russian gas could flow directly to Germany. Ukraine, Poland and the USA, among others, are against the project.
More: “We’re running into a gap” – Why the gas crisis is getting worse