European economic locomotive Germany is now deeply in an energy crisis and can't extricate itself. Germany today has to take various measures to try to maintain sufficient energy available this winter.
Beixi No. 1 natural gas pipeline failed to restore gas supply, pushing the European natural gas price up again. On Monday, September 5, the natural gas price in the European natural gas futures trading market rose by more than 35% compared with the previous trading day, hitting 290 euros per megawatt-hour; at the close, the increase narrowed to 14.6%.
Germany announced last week that the country's gas storage facilities have filled about 86%, and although it has not yet achieved the reserve target of 100% before the start of the heating season, it has been higher than government expectations and higher than the same period in previous years. In September last year, Germany's natural gas reserves were about 60%.
Germany extends the operation time of nuclear power plants
German Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck said on Monday that there are three nuclear power plants in Germany, two of which will remain operational until April 2023, in case of a shortage of electricity supply in Germany in the winter of 2022:
Through this arrangement, it is hoped that action can be taken if the situation deteriorates. However, the German government still adheres to its commitment to withdraw from nuclear power.
According to data released by the German Federal Statistics Office in June, nuclear power accounted for 6% of Germany's electricity generation in the first quarter, compared with more than 30% of coal and 13% of natural gas, and nearly half of renewable energy, including wind and solar.
Recent polls show that the German public has broadly supported the postponement of nuclear shutdowns. A poll last month showed that nearly two-thirds of Germans supported the move.
France helps
To understand Germany's urgent needs, neighboring France is also willing to help.
According to CCTV reports, on Monday afternoon local time, French President Macron held a video conference with German Chancellor Scholz . Macron said at a press conference after the video conference that France is preparing to transport more natural gas to Germany. If the energy shortage cannot be alleviated this winter, Germany will send electricity to France to alleviate France's power supply shortage crisis.
In addition, Macron also said that France agrees with the unified procurement of natural gas at the EU level, because it will be possible to purchase more favorable natural gas. In addition, if European Commission decides to set a price cap on natural gas purchased from Russian gas pipelines, France will support this approach.
Germany buys natural gas from Australia
In order to solve the energy crisis in the long run, the German utility Uniper, the German utility of Russian natural gas, and the largest independent oil and gas company in Australia, signed a long-term agreement on September 5 to transport more liquefied natural gas cargo to energy-scarce Europe.
said on Monday that the agreement reached between the two parties showed that Uniper purchases up to 12 batches of liquefied natural gas each year, and the supply will start in January next year and may continue until 2039.
The transaction between the two parties is equivalent to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, but compared with the 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas delivered to the EU every year when the Nord Stream pipeline was operating at full capacity, it is equivalent to the monthly gas transmission of Nord Stream 1 before Russia's "gas cut off" last week, that is, one fifth of what it was when it was operated at full capacity. Obviously, this is still just a drop in the bucket.
Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said:
This agreement ensures additional LNG supply for our customers in Europe, which has become increasingly important due to recent developments.
Last week, Germany announced that it would lease an additional floating liquefied natural gas receiving station, after Germany had installed four liquefied natural gas receiving stations.
This article comes from Wall Street News, welcome to download the APP to view more
