Gazprom: EU agrees voluntary 15% cut in use – BBC News

The EU said the deal was aimed at saving and storing natural gas before winter, while warning that Russia was “continuing to use energy supplies as a weapon”.

This voluntary agreement will become mandatory once the supply situation reaches crisis levels.

However, some countries that are not connected to EU gas pipelines, such as Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, will be exempted from the agreement on mandatory gas cuts because they will not have other sources of supply.

In addition, the Baltic states, which are not connected to the European power system and rely heavily on natural gas for power generation, are exempted from setting mandatory targets to avoid the risk of a power supply crisis.

Exemptions can also be requested if countries exceed their natural gas storage targets, or are highly dependent on natural gas in their “lifeblood” industries, or if their natural gas use last year exceeded the previous five-year average by at least 8 percent.

Nathan Piper, an oil and gas energy analyst at Investec, said the EU’s quest to reduce its reliance on Russian gas has “high political and economic costs” – and the costs are growing Reflected in the immunity of member states, this is likely to weaken the strength of these measures.

The European Commission’s energy executive, Kadri Simson, said initial calculations showed that even if all rationing exemptions were used, the EU as a whole would still be able to reduce its need to a level “that would help us get through an ordinary winter safely. “Degree.

She also presented work to strengthen access to gas supplies from other countries, including Azerbaijan, the United States, Canada, Norway, Egypt and Israel.

Before the deal was announced, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said: “Of course there are a lot of compromises in this text now. This is the way Europe works.”

Harbeck said one “probable problem” was that all the exemptions resulted in “too much bureaucracy and we were too slow in a crisis”, but added that the relevant exemptions were “reasonable”.

Hungary is the only member state opposed to the agreement.

By Jessica Parker, BBC correspondent in Brussels

The deal is full of compromises. Exemptions are now set for some countries, and others may allow other countries to opt out in the future.

An EU diplomat told me: “The plan looks like a block of Emmental (aka macerate, a Swiss cheese made from whole cow’s milk).”

In Brussels, there was talk of the whole plan being pushed out before the August recess. And as winter approaches, and Gazprom’s announcement on Monday, ministers are under more pressure to act.

At the same time, there is the question of Hungary. It was the only country that ultimately opposed the deal, raising questions about whether they would even try to implement the plan.

Not only that, in recent days, the foreign minister of Budapest also met with the Russian foreign minister in Moscow, requesting to increase the supply of natural gas.

To say the least, none of this is “in line” with the EU. Viktor Orban’s government, known to be relatively friendly with the Kremlin, appears increasingly alarmingly inconsistent with Brussels’ overall view on tackling the EU’s thorny energy issues.

The agreement was announced after Gazprom announced another cut in gas deliveries to Germany due to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline restoration project.

The pipeline, which sends gas from Russia to Germany, has been operating at well below peak capacity for weeks, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of waging a “gas war” against Europe.

Gazprom has cut gas supplies across the board to countries including Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland after they refused to comply with the Kremlin’s demands to pay their bills in rubles instead of euros or dollars.

Russia supplied 40 percent of the EU’s natural gas last year, and since the invasion of Ukraine, European leaders have negotiated ways to reduce their reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

The EU agreed in May to completely ban Russian oil imports by sea until the end of the year, but the ban on natural gas has taken longer.

The UK would not be directly hit by the disruption to gas supplies, as less than 5% of UK gas imports come from Russia, but it would be affected by rising prices on the global market amid rising European demand.

British gas traded at 350 pence per British thermal unit on Tuesday (July 26), the highest price since March, amid uncertainty over Russian supplies.

UK energy bills rose to an unprecedented £700 in April and are expected to rise to £3,244 a year for the average household by October.

“The EU is united and solid,” Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela said when announcing the agreement.

“Today’s decision makes it clear that member states will stand up to any Russian intention to use energy supplies as a weapon to divide the EU.”

“Saving gas now will make us better prepared. Winter will be much cheaper and easier for EU citizens and industries.”

When choosing how to reduce gas use, EU member states agreed to prioritize measures that would not affect the average household and critical services such as health care and defense.

Possible measures include encouraging industry to switch to other fuels, conducting national awareness campaigns and targeted regulations to reduce heating and cooling, the EU said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that Russia cutting off all natural gas supplies to the EU is a “likely scenario”.

Bulk prices for natural gas have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, with knock-on effects on consumers’ energy bills.