Oleg Davigora22:16, 22.12.23

By 2022, the country was one of the most dependent on Russian gas in Europe – the Russian Federation supplied up to 60% of German needs.

Before the war, Gazprom supplied about 60% of gas consumption in Germany. Last year’s shutdown of supplies and explosions on the “Nordic Streams” , stoppage of a number of industrial productions and economy measures, to which the Germans and other residents of the EU countries were forced to resort, forced Russian propagandists to shower them with ridicule, writes Reuters.

Since then, prices have fallen 10 times, and Germany has learned to do without Russian gas. Now 60% of consumption is provided by Norway. The largest producer of gas in Europe, it became the main supplier of Germany immediately after the departure of Gazprom. Since then, the parties have made several more agreements, and this week German state-owned energy company Sefe and Norway’s Equinor announced a €50 billion contract to supply about a third of Germany’s industrial gas demand.

As a result, Norway’s share will reach 60%, Reuters notes. True, such a strong dependence on a single supplier carries risks, even if not such as were associated with Russia and the actions of Gazprom. The common political views of Germany and Norway reduce the probability of interruptions, but do not guarantee against the occurrence of technical problems, given the large-scale network of pipelines connecting Norway to the continent, according to Henning Glostein, an analyst at Eurasia Group. However, the branching of the network adds reliability, he argues: if necessary, gas can be sent through another branch.

LNG supplies became additional sources of imports. Germany, in particular, signed long-term contracts with the American ConocoPhillips and Venture Global. In addition, it has reduced its consumption, although its industry is still heavily dependent on the supply of electricity from gas stations and gas as a raw material. As a result, the average monthly gas import decreased this year by more than 25% compared to last year.

In the future, as part of the green transition, Germany plans to further reduce its consumption. The agreement between Sefe and Equinor provides for the replacement of gas with hydrogen supplies from 2029.

Trade in Russian gas

In the first half of 2023, the export of Russian gas to Europe decreased by almost 40 billion cubic meters, and according to the results of the year, production in Russia will fall by another 62 billion cubic meters.

This is stated in the review of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the gas market. “In the first half of 2023, pipeline deliveries of Russian gas to the European Union fell by more than 75% (or by 36 billion cubic meters),” the report said.

According to the document, natural gas production in Russia this year will fall by 62 billion cubic meters compared to last year: from 672 billion cubic meters in 2022 to 610 billion cubic meters this year (by 9.2 percent). 

In the pre-war year 2021, Russia produced 762 billion cubic meters, i.e., in two years in total, the Russian Federation will lose 152 billion cubic meters of natural gas production volumes.

(C)UNIAN 2023