Two clues still don’t prove it. But little is missing. The question that keeps popping up at the moment is whether Putin will use the taps on the gas exported from Russia as another pressure weapon against Europe. The answer will only come with the next steps, which will show if the signs of these hours become a strategy. As it seems likely.
Yesterday, Gazprom announced the reduction of more than 40% of its daily gas delivery capacity to Germany via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and today Eni announced a limited reduction in today’s gas deliveries of around 15%. A spokesman for the group told Adnkronos that “the reasons for the drop have not been communicated at this time” and that Eni is “constantly monitoring the situation”.
If there are assurances from institutional channels, “there is currently no evidence of risks in the energy supply,” said Tim McPhie, spokesman for the EU Commission, there would also be the first explicit assessments that Russian gas was involved “Political decisions. and not technical,” as German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck argued.
Certainly the current gas consumption is not a cause for concern in view of the immediate impact of the Russian decisions. “The trend of gas flows is constantly monitored in collaboration with the operators and at the moment there are no critical points,” confirms the Minister for Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani. If we were in the winter, any reduction in inventories would have a greater impact. Of course, in perspective, with stockpiling and the next cold season in mind, the cuts would result in a supply leak, which for Italy is still largely dependent on Moscow if structural cuts were to materialize.
The issue is obviously European and the countermeasures must come from Brussels. While the gas price cap is still under discussion, a proposal in which the Italian government is heavily involved, a step has been taken with an agreement signed between the European Union, Egypt and Israel. “We will work for stable supplies of natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to the EU,” which “will contribute to the energy security of the Union,” summed up European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from Egypt via social media, where she spoke on a Mission is to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.