Germany has overcome shortage of Russian gas and is ready for winter, minister says
Germany has resolved the energy crisis and is ready for the coming winter of 2025, German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in comments quoted by Bild on Sept. 19.
"There is no more gas shortage," Habeck said during a dialog with the citizens in the city of Osnabruck, adding that Germany no longer has a need for Russian gas.
Russia began tightening screws on gas supplies to Europe in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions.
Russia's state energy giant Gazprom suspended direct supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany in 2022. The following year, Germany signed an agreement with Norway, Europe's largest gas producer, increasing the share of Norwegian supplies to 60%, comparable to the amount Russia used to account for.
Germany's natural gas storage facilities are full, and all goals have been met, according to Habeck. Yet the official said that gas prices in Germany are "higher than before the war in Ukraine."
"Prices are higher; this also applies to gas, but not because we have a shortage," the minister said, adding that the real reason is that Asian nations are buying out liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to extreme heat in their countries.
Habeck expressed confidence that gas prices will fall again when additional LNG volumes are released and enter the German market. Overall, gas prices in Germany will be only "moderately higher than in the years before the pandemic," he claimed.
Ukraine currently transits Russian gas to the EU as part of a deal signed in 2019, which is set to expire in December 2024. Europe and Ukraine are in talks with Azerbaijan about replacing Russia as a supplier.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sept. 6 that negotiations are underway with the EU, Moscow, and Kyiv to transit Azeri gas after Ukraine stopped transiting Russian gas.
Gas supplies from Azerbaijan would have to first transit through southern Russia before reaching Ukraine.
"Russia, Ukraine, and European institutions have approached us in connection with the continuation of gas transit through the territory of Ukraine," Aliyev said. "For several months, we have been making great efforts to come to a common denominator."
