Berlin, June 16 (UNI) Germany accused Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom of deliberately attempting to push up energy prices by sharply cutting down the supplies, BBC reported on Thursday.
Gazprom on the other hand has said that it was limiting the amount of gas supply to Germany to under 70m cubic metres per day - well under half the current rate, citing servicing of equipment in the Nord Stream pipeline as the reason for the cut in supplies.
However, German economy minister Robert Habeck described the Russian move as "a political decision" and not a technical one.
Gazprom said initially on Tuesday it was cutting the Nord Stream 1 gas flow from 167m cubic metres a day to 100m but on Wednesday it said it would be cut it further to 67m cubic metres, while also reducing its gas supply to Italy by around 15 per cent on Wednesday. Italy, like Germany, is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounts for 40 per cent of its imports.
Gazprom's move comes two weeks after European Union leaders agreed to block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine, with Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands have already had their Russian natural gas deliveries suspended after they refused a demand for "unfriendly countries" to pay in Russian roubles.
Russia's payment demand was seen as an attempt to boost the rouble after it was hit by Western sanctions. Greater foreign exchange demand for roubles was likely to increase demand and push up the currency's value.
Habeck said Russian actions once again showed that European countries needed to end their dependency on fossil fuels as quickly as possible. In February, Germany suspended the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, shortly before Russia launched its war in Ukraine.
The minister said he would wait to see how the move affected the European and German gas markets but said suppliers had always managed to find gas from other sources.
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