As Germany struggles to store enough natural gas to get it though the coming winter, Russia has cut the flow of gas through the Nord Stream I pipeline several times. As of the end of July, the pipeline was only transporting about 20% of the supply Russia had agreed to in contracts.
Russia has claimed the decision to stop transporting gas is purely the result of technical problems and required maintenance but Germany has been clear from the start that it’s not buying that excuse. “Based on our information there is no technical reason for a reduction in deliveries,” Germany’s economic minister said last month.
So what happened to all of the gas that Russia stopped sending to Germany? Well, some of it is being flared off near the start of the Nord Stream I pipeline along the border with Finland. Estimates suggest Russia is just burning $10 million per day worth of natural gas possibly just to send a message.
As Europe’s energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.
They say the plant, near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.
Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.
Germany’s ambassador to the UK told BBC News that Russia was burning the gas because “they couldn’t sell it elsewhere”…
The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.
...Given that Russia has been lying about technical problems for months now, the claim that this is another technical problem seems unlikely, especially since they’re making a point of flaring this gas near the border where it can be seen rather than where it was produced. Putin is sending a message that he’d rather burn the gas off into the air than deliver it as promised. This is a big, glowing middle finger to the Germans.
No comments:
Post a Comment