Europe faced an energy crisis even before the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany went offline for regular maintenance. While there were signals that at least some gas was likely to soon, it was still uncertain and government officials braced for the possibility that the key pipeline won’t restart as scheduled.
Did Russia cut off gas to Europe? It has reduced supplies significantly. After the EU imposed drastic sanctions on Russia’s banks and companies and started sending weapons to Ukraine, Russian cut off gas to six member countries and reduced supplies to six more. Flows into Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, through Nord Stream 1 were dialed back by two-thirds, with Russia blaming a part that was sent to Canada for maintenance and not returned due to sanctions. European leaders rejected that claim, saying it was a political gambit in retaliation for sanctions.
Why is Russian natural gas so important? Russia supplied some 40% of Europe’s natural gas before the war. That has dropped to around 15%, sending prices through the roof and straining energy-intensive industries. Gas is used across a range of processes that most people never see — to forge steel to make cars, make glass bottles and pasteurize milk and cheese.
What is the Nord Stream 1 pipeline? It is the major European natural gas pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany and is Germany’s main source of Russian gas. Russian state-owned Gazprom had notified plans to deliver some 530 gigawatt hours’ worth of gas through Nord Stream 1 today — about 30% of the pipeline’s capacity. In the days leading up to the closure for maintenance, gas supplies ran at about 700 gigawatt hours per day.
What can Europe do? The EU has turned to more-expensive liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which comes by ship from places like the U.S. and Qatar. The European Union also proposed that member states voluntarily cut their gas use by 15% over the coming months.
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