By The Chicago Times Staff
June 19, 2022
BERLIN – Germany to ration the use of natural gas in production of electricity as supply dwindles from Russian pipeline
Russian state-owned Gazprom announced that supply reductions could be expected from the Nord Stream pipeline as repairs are completed. However, many in the European Union believe Russia is playing games and using the reductions as a form of punishment against NATO member nations.
Robert Habeck, the German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs believes Germany may have to reactivate some of Germany’s coal-fired power plants to produce electricity to make up the difference.
Habeck’s solution is in conflict with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s standing order which sets the goal to reduce coal use for electricity by 2030.
German energy officials said the dependence on Russian gas is necessary until alternative sources come to market. German citizens have been asked to cut back their energy use as tensions grow with Russia over Ukraine.
“It’s obvious that Putin’s strategy is to unsettle us by driving up the price and dividing us. We won’t let that happen.” Habeck said in a statement.
Gazprom has cut exports to non-former Soviet republics by 28.9 percent since last year.
“Our product, our rules. We don’t play by rules we didn’t create,” Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller declared in a statement at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The Chicago Times 