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Germany is preparing to cut supplies from Moscow in response to its imposed sanctions.
An analysis by the British daily “The Guardian” says that businesses there are trying to prepare alternative plans for the imminent possibility that Russian gas will stop flowing into the pipelines of Europe’s largest economy.
“It would be a catastrophe – which would have been considered unthinkable two months ago, but now it is becoming more real,” said the owner of an energy company in western Germany that makes battery covers for electric cars or similar parts of electric trains.
Folesi did not want to be named, in part for fear that he might appear to support Russia’s war, as his nearly century-old business “will not survive” if the gas goes out.
But he says the problems are compounded by the fact that it relies not only on gas, which has already risen in price, but also on Russian metals such as nickel and aluminum.
Germany receives about 50 cubic meters of gas, or about 55% of its supply from Russia, which is the largest volume for any EU country.
Protesters at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Friday chanted in favor of an embargo on Russian oil and gas, but industry and politics chiefs warned that turning off the taps could do far more damage in Germany than it could bring advantages to Ukraine.
“Who cares about a weakened Germany?” said a government source for the daily TheGuardian this week.
Such a crisis would affect manufacturing giants such as Thyssenkrupp, BASF and Bayer, as well as hundreds of other small and medium-sized businesses with which they are affiliated.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has urged Germans to lower the “thermostat” – saying “every kilowatt saved saves Putin” – in what critics have ironically called “freezing for Ukraine”.
And some have done so, driven by rising energy prices. Others like the IMC porcelain maker, founded in 1763, are working overtime to produce as much as possible before the taps close. “Who knows how long we will have gas?” says its director Martina Hacker, for the daily Der Spiegel. “Without it we can not produce porcelain.”
Minister Habeck has recently been to Qatar to secure gas deliveries and has worked with neighboring countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium to establish alternative inputs, such as gas from the US. Plans to close two coal-fired power plants in Germany could now be postponed.
Authorities say 45 percent of the country’s gas storage facilities are 26 percent full. Their plan is to reach the 80% level by summer saving now, to maintain supply for the coming winter.
Some predict battles between businesses and the government over who is “most important” in deserving of scanty supplies. Others provide catastrophic versions of bankrupt businesses and mass unemployment in Germany. / The Guardian /
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