The European Union’s security of energy supply situation is “serious” and “likely going to get worse”, the EU Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, warned in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday 12 July.
She went on to stress the importance of saving energy now in order to avoid industry having to reduce power usage next winter.
The statement comes as Russia has shut down both pipes of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for annual maintenance work over 10 days.
While this shutdown was planned a while ago, there are concerns that Moscow may be prolonging it to put pressure on Europe in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian gas giant Gazprom had already cut gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1 by 60% in recent weeks, citing a technical problem. On Monday, the Austrian and Italian energy companies OMV and ENI announced that the Russian company had further reduced its gas deliveries to Italy and Austria by a third and 70% respectively.
Asked about the EU’s ability to reach at least 80% of its gas reserves by November - as required by the new gas storage regulation (see EUROPE 12980/3) - the commissioner said that stocks are now over 60% full. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)