NORD STREAM

1. Context

2. What is Nord Stream 1?

• Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline that runs from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea. The majority owned by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, the pipeline is the primary route through which its gas enters Germany.
• It transports 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year, of which most goes directly to Germany, while the rest travels west and southwards through onshore links to other countries and into storage caverns.
• Germany is Russia's biggest European gas consumer, and most of it comes through the Nord Stream Pipeline. Its share of Russian gas supplies was 55% in 2021 and currently lies at 35%.

3. How has Russia restricted supplies?

• Russia has been reducing gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 for a number of months. In June, it cut deliveries through the pipeline by 75% from 170m cubic meters of gas a day to roughly 40m cubic meters.
• In July, Russia shut it down for 10 days, citing the need for maintenance. When it reopened, the flow was halved to 20m cubic meters a day.
• In late August, it shut down Nord Stream 1 entirely, blaming problems with equipment. The pipeline has not been open since then.

4. What are Europe's alternate sources of energy?

• There have been growing concerns that there could be further restrictions on European gas supplies, well beyond the scheduled maintenance that has been imposed.
• European countries rely on Russian energy for their cold winters, but now believe that Russia could weaponize their dependency as a response to their sanction due to the conflict in Ukraine.
• If Nord Stream 1 does not resume its supply to Europe, it will not have an adequate gas supply by the end of the year.
• As an alternative source of energy, European countries have increasingly turned towards the US, from whom they purchase liquified natural gas (LNG) that comes via ships.
• Since ship-delivered gas ends up being far more expensive, there are also attempts to get non-Russian pipeline gas from Norway and Azerbaijan.
• While EU countries were earlier seeking to phase out fossil fuels and emphasize renewable forms of energy, many are now returning to coal to deal with the energy crisis.
• Despite attempts to entirely abandon coal by 2030, Germany’s parliament on Friday (July 8) passed emergency legislation to reopen their old coal plants for electricity production.

5. How is Europe reacting to the Supply cuts?

• EU member states have agreed to cut gas usage by 15%. The German government hopes to reduce gas usage by 2% by limiting the use of lighting and heating in public buildings this winter.
• Spain has already brought in similar measures and Switzerland is considering doing the same.
• Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany relied on Russia for 55% of its gas.
• It has managed to reduce this to 35% and wants eventually to reduce imports to zero by importing gas from other countries.
• Germany is also increasing its use of coal and extending the life of power stations that it had been planning to shut down despite the negative environmental impact.

For Prelims