Russia is choking Europe’s natural gas supply in a bid to fight back against Western sanctions. It reduced the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to just 20% last month, contributing to the continent’s energy crisis. The key natural gas benchmarks have soared since early June, with Dutch TTF gas futures up 129% to 194 euros ($198) per megawatt hour. “European gas prices are soaring again, near record highs, as Nord Stream 1 flows drop to just 20% of capacity due to ongoing maintenance,” Rystad energy analyst Karolina Siemieniuk said in a recent research note. note. “If Russian flows stop completely, which is not out of the question, prices will shoot up further.” But Nord Stream 1 is not the only pipeline that supplies Europe with its natural gas. Natural gas fields in Azerbaijan, the North Sea and North Africa are also key sources of energy for the continent. Many European countries also import liquefied natural gas by ship – and the US now ships more cryogenic gas than Russia does by pipeline. Russia has the capacity to transport natural gas to Germany at a rate of 1.76 million GigaWatt hours per day, according to the European Network of Gas Transmission System Operators. Key routes include the Gazela pipeline, which crosses the Czech Republic, and the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which runs from Western Siberia to Germany. But the European Union has also worked on initiatives to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. The Trans-Anatolian and Trans Adriatic pipelines, completed in 2018 and 2020 respectively, deliver gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field to Greece, Italy and Turkey. The EU also imports gas from the North Sea gas fields, which are the territory of Norway and the United Kingdom. Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland receive natural gas through networks such as Europipe-II and the Forties pipeline system. Finally, Italy and Spain import gas from key North African locations, including Algeria’s Hassi R’Mel gas hub.
