Twelve EU countries have been partially or totally affected by gas supply cuts initiated by Russia. According to EC Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, the decision of the Russian authorities has made the risk of the energy crisis more real than ever before. Actually, the crisis has been looming over the block since last autumn. At the start of the year, the EU prepared a plan to tackle the energy crisis, and it can be implemented any time soon, Kadri Simson says. Recently, the EU has struck a deal with Israel and Egypt aimed at boosting natural gas imports to Europe. In addition to this, the EU is conducting active negotiations with Norway and Azerbaijan in an attempt to diversify energy sources. At the same time, energy officials still have some disputable areas such as the electricity sector and the issue of expanding nuclear energy. At the same time, the European Commission cannot stipulate the energy source that a member state chooses. According to the European Energy Charter, every member state has the right to decide on the choice of its energy sources. In late May, Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, and the Netherlands were left without gas supplies from Russia as they refused to adopt a new payment system. For your reference, on March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree which requires all payments for Russian natural gas supplied from April 1, 2022 to foreign counterparties to be made in rubles. On June 9, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov announced that “unfriendly countries” that had refused to make payments under new rules were cut off from gas deliveries. He also noted that those buyers who paid according to the new rules continued to receive gas from Russia. On June 14, Russia's energy giant Gazprom said it would reduce gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline due to a delayed repair of gas pumping units by Siemens and the malfunction of the engine. The next day, Gazprom stopped operating another Siemens gas turbine engine as Siemens failed to provide the overhaul service in time. As a result, gas flow to Europe has dropped by a third to 67 million cubic meters per day since June 16. What is more, in July, Gazprom is planning to shut down the pipeline for scheduled maintenance.
