Germany: No Russian gas, existing reserves can last one to two months

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 5. Klaus Müller, director of the German regulatory agency Federal Network Agency, said on the 4th that if Germany loses natural gas supplies from Russia and does not experience an unusually cold winter this year, Germany’s existing natural gas reserves will be It can last one to two months.

Mueller made the above remarks in an interview with Germany’s Funk Media Group.

Mueller previously posted on social media, saying that the “North Stream-1” natural gas pipeline will be closed in July for annual routine maintenance, which means that Russia’s gas supply will be suspended.

According to data released by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection on the 1st of this month, Germany’s natural gas inventory is about 61% of its gas storage capacity.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has imposed six rounds of sanctions on Russia, none of which involved Gazprom. The EU Council approved a rule on 27 last month that requires member states to have gas inventories at least 80% of their gas storage capacity by this winter and 90% by next winter, and gas can be shared among member states.

The “North Stream-1” natural gas pipeline built in 2011 starts from Vyborg, Russia in the east, and leads to Germany via the seabed of the Baltic Sea. It is the main pipeline for gas transmission from Russia to Europe. In recent years, it has been overloaded. In mid-June, Gazprom (Gazprom) said that Gazprom was forced to reduce the gas transmission volume of the “Beixi-1” natural gas pipeline due to the failure of Siemens in Germany to deliver the gas compressor unit sent for repair to Russia in time. . According to Siemens, affected by Canada’s sanctions against Russia, Siemens was unable to return the equipment to Gazprom. A spokesman for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection said on the 4th that the German side is negotiating with Canada and the European Commission on the relevant situation of Siemens equipment in Canada.

In addition, a spokesman for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection also stated that the natural gas remaining in the pipeline after the “North Stream-2” gas transmission project was suspended cannot be used because the pipeline has not been certified.

“Nord Stream-2” is a natural gas pipeline that bypasses Ukraine from Russia and goes directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea. It took more than 10 years from assessment to completion, costing a total of 11 billion US dollars. , Austria and other countries to jointly invest. Affected by the changes in the situation in Russia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on February 22 to suspend the certification process of the “Nord Stream-2” natural gas pipeline project. (Chen Lixi)