Habeck: The gas supply situation is manageable

By Andreas Killer

BERLIN (Dow Jones) — Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) sees the situation with gas supplies as “manageable” despite the imposition of Russian sanctions on subsidiaries of Gazprom Germania. 31 European companies are affected by the Kremlin’s decree, “including Gazprom Germania and some of its subsidiaries,” said Habeck in a short-term statement in Berlin. Storage and trading companies in the group under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency are affected, “but not the network operator of Gazprom Germania”.

“The effects of today are manageable,” emphasized the Economics Minister. “The situation is manageable.” As a result of the decree, 10 million cubic meters of gas would no longer be supplied every day. However, these could be obtained from other sources, probably at higher prices. “That can also be the point of the whole operation,” said Habeck. In order to pay the higher prices, Gazprom Germania should receive financial guarantees. However, Habeck also warned that the situation could deteriorate further and called such fears “not completely unfounded”. However, no alert level is being declared at this time.

The president of the network agency, Klaus Mller, said he would not issue a “planned decree” that would allow further trade with Germany to take place under possibly different conditions.

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DJG/tank/sha

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 12, 2022 07:51 ET (11:51 GMT)

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