Robert Habeck accuses Russia's Gazprom of carrying out 'economic attack' on Germany

Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck has accused Russian energy corporation Gazprom of carrying out "an economic attack" on his nation. He called the reduction in gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 an "attack" on Germany, The DailyMail reported. Habeck said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to "create chaos" in the European gas market by slashing the supply of gas to Poland, Bulgaria and other European nations. 

Robert Habeck stressed that they need to "diversify" suppliers of energy and raw materials to have "a bit of independence from the malign intentions of the world's dictators." The statement of the German Economy Minister comes a week after Gazprom announced that it was cutting off supplies through Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany citing "delayed repairs." The German government has called the decision of the Russian energy giant "political" amid support of EU nations to Ukraine against Russian invasion. After Gazprom's announcement, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands decided to use coal power plants to reduce the use of gas. In addition, German government has said that the storage of gas in reserves needs to be 90% before the Winter with an aim to tackle the further reduction in gas supply. 

Germany preparing for second phase of natural gas emergency plan

Meanwhile, Germany is making preparations to begin the second phase of its natural gas emergency plan within five to 10 days, RT cited Die Welt report. According to the German Economic Ministry's three-stage plan, the "alarm phase" is implemented when the gas supply is "halted" or excessive demand for gas causing "significant deterioration of the gas supply situation." However, the market still manages to handle the halt of supply or demand without requiring to initiate steps for "non-market based measures." The Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries did not share details regarding the implementation of the emergency plan. Gas regulator Bundesnetzagentur had informed about the details of the auction system set to be launched in the coming weeks which has been devised to reduce the use of natural gas among manufacturers. 

German Economy Minister calls on people to reduce use of energy

Earlier on 19 June, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced that the country will limit the use of natural gas for electricity production to compensate for a drop in supply from Russia, according to AP. He further said that the government will need to increase the burning of coal. Robert Habeck said that storage facilities in Germany are presently at 56.7% capacity and they will be able to make up for the drop in supply from Russia by buying the energy from elsewhere, according to AP.  He urged the people in Germany to reduce the use of energy amid the ongoing supply situation.

Inputs from AP
 

Image: AP