Countries under the European Commission (EU) have reached an agreement to voluntarily cut down natural gas demand by at least 15 per cent by next winter, following a need to brace up for Russia’s gas supply cuts.
The latest development comes even as Gazprom, Russia’s energy giant, announced that it would cut gas flows to Germany through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline starting from Wednesday.
A statement by the European Commission said that “In an effort to increase EU security of energy supply, member states today reached a political agreement on a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand by 15% this winter”.
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According to the statement, “the Council regulation also foresees the possibility to trigger a ‘Union alert’ on the security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory”.
The commission said that the purpose of the gas demand reduction is to make savings ahead of winter in order to prepare for possible disruptions of gas supplies from Russia that is continuously using energy supplies as a weapon.”
It noted that the agreement would exempt countries that are not connected to other EU countries’ gas networks, adding that member states whose electricity grids are not synchronised with the European electricity system and are heavily reliant on gas for electricity production are also exempted to avoid the risk of an electricity supply crisis.
Additionally, the commission said that countries with a limited ability to export gas to other EU countries can request a lower target.
Story was adapted from TheCable.
