Germany devises plans to save gas amid supply cuts by Russia as winter looms

German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Robert Habeck has said that they intend to introduce additional measures amid a reduction in Russian gas supplies. The plan of the German government to reduce the Russian gas supply has been revealed in a five-page document, DW reported citing DPA. The German authorities will allocate billions of dollars for their planned measures to decrease the import of gas from Moscow. 

The measures planned by German authorities include reducing the use of gas in industries and production of electricity, and increasing the filling of storage facilities as "it may not be enough in winter".

The German government will soon give an additional credit line of 15 billion euros through the state-owned bank KfW, DW cited DPA report.

The decision regarding the allocation of credit lines was discussed by the German Ministry of Finance and the decision will be conveyed to the Bundestag Budget Committee within the next week. Furthermore, the German government has even planned to compensate the industrial consumers who reduce the use of gas. In addition, the German government plans to use additional coal-fired power plants.

Gazprom reduced gas supply to Germany

German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan is to cause "uncertainty" in Germany and increase the price. Russian energy corporation Gazprom reduced gas supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline in mid-June.

It announced that it will reduce export of supplies to Germany by over 40%, as per the DW report. Later on 16th June, Gazprom announced that it will reduce the gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 67 million cubic meters per day. It had mentioned that the gas was halted due to "technical condition of the engine" at a compression station.

It is pertinent to note here that Gazprom has halted gas supplies to several countries, including Bulgaria, Netherlands, Finland, Poland as they failed to make payments in rubles. Meanwhile, several EU nations have been imposing sanctions against Moscow and reducing dependency on Russian imports after Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Germany has also imposed sanctions on Moscow.

Image: AP