Now that Russian gas is flowing again, at only 40 percent of the maximum capacity of Nord Stream 1, no country has had to declare a higher gas alarm phase on Thursday. Shutting down companies that use a lot of gas is therefore not an option for the time being.
Russian state gas company Gazprom resumed gas deliveries to Germany early Thursday morning, as announced a day earlier. Deliveries are still at a lower level than before. The pipeline has been closed for maintenance for the past ten days. This happens every year, but there were fears that the Kremlin would use the interruption to stop deliveries altogether. This would have immediately caused major problems in Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas.
President Putin warned this week that deliveries could fall again next week, because important parts for Nord Stream 1 are missing. As a result, according to Russia, capacity can fall to 20 percent of the maximum from next week.
Minister Jetten is working with the industry on a shutdown plan, which determines which companies must partially or completely stop production in the event of serious gas shortages. This concerns 251 large consumers, according to Jetten, who will have the plan ready after the summer.
The minister thinks that the plan does not have to be launched this winter, because the Netherlands probably has enough gas. However, some industries may have to temporarily slow down if Germany does run into problems. It is possible that installations in the Chemelot and Moerdijk industrial areas will then temporarily have to run less fast, so that more gas remains for German industry.
Solidarity with Germany
By jointly reducing the gas demand, it is possible to prevent parts of the German industry from suddenly coming to a standstill. According to Jetten, the latter would also have major consequences for Dutch industry after a short time, which would then no longer receive essential parts or semi-finished products from Germany. That is why, according to Jetten, it is in the interest of both countries to possibly also turn the industry down a notch here, even if there were no gas shortages in the Netherlands at that time. ‘Shutdown in Germany also has consequences here, so we have to show solidarity.’
Germany receives from the Netherlands the maximum amount of gas that the natural gas network can process. That is 35 billion cubic meters on an annual basis. Taking into account this physical limitation (it is no longer possible to travel from the Netherlands to Germany), Jetten says that he expects the Netherlands to have enough natural gas in the coming winter, provided the winter does not become too severe.
But if all gas supplies are drained, we will be at the same point next spring as this year and there is a risk of shortages again before the winter of the end of 2023.
Jetten says that the filling of the stocks is going well and that the important Bergermeer storage may also be filled to more than 68 percent, as the House of Representatives wishes. The minister thinks that it will be possible to fill the gas reservoirs even without Russian exports, although it will be more expensive, because the gas price will probably rise sharply if the Russian gas flow comes to a complete stop.