Warning of rapid phase-out of Russian gas

Munich Siemens Energy boss Christian Bruch warns of a short-term stop to energy supplies from Russia. “If we exit Russian gas immediately, the impact will be dramatic,” he said in an interview with Handelsblatt. In the event of a short-term boycott, the negative impact on Germany would be greater than the effect on Russia.

For some industries, the gas supply is existential, said Bruch. “Just take the glass industry. Once the systems go cold, they’re gone.” The question is whether investments will be made in this country again.
In principle, in the longer term, it would also be possible to do without Russian gas, said Bruch. To do this, you have to expand the renewables quickly, buy LNG liquid gas and obtain gas from other areas such as Scandinavia.

But even if it were possible to replace Russian gas, Germany would have a distribution problem. “Supply, especially in eastern and southern Germany, will be difficult because the corresponding network is missing,” said Bruch.