Europe ‘all set to respond’ to halted Russian gas products, authorities states

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EU's Gentiloni says the bloc is not afraid of Putin's decisions

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The European Union is “ready to react” to Russia’s choice to stop gas products to the bloc, a leading EU authorities informed CNBC on Saturday.

Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom on Friday revealed an indefinite stop to gas streams to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, mentioning the requirement for extra repair work.

The relocation followed products had actually currently been stopped recently for a prepared “maintenance outage” that was anticipated to last up untilSept 3.

“We expect that Russia is respecting the contracts that they have but even if the weaponization of energy will continue or will increase in response to our decisions, I think that the Euoprean Union is ready to react,” stated Paolo Gentiloni, the EU’s economics commissioner.

“Of course, we need to conserve energy, we need to share energy, we have [a] high level of storage and we are not scared of Putin’s choices,” Gentiloni informed CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

“We asked Putin to respect their contracts but if they don’t respect their contracts then we are ready to react,” he stated, without detailing precisely what actions this might require.

Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles throughout a joint interview with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni following their conference at the Bocharov Ruchei state house in Sochi, Russia, May 17, 2017.

Yuri Kadobnov|Reuters

Gazprom stated on the Telegram messaging app that inspectors discovered an oil leakage in the pipeline.

“Gas transportation to the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been completely stopped until the issues on the operation of the equipment are eliminated,” the energy business stated.

The stop to products follows a summer season of unpredictable relations in between Russia and the EU as the war in Ukraine continues, with Russia implicated of “weaponizing” gas products to its European next-door neighbors in a quote to push the bloc for sanctions relief. Russia rejects utilizing energy as a weapon.

Gazprom has actually consistently stated that sanctions are avoiding it from preserving and running the pipeline effectively and had actually currently lowered gas streams through the pipeline to around 20% of its complete capability.

Gazprom’s choice came hours after the Group of Seven financial powers settled on a strategy to enforce a cost cap on Russian oil in an effort to suppress Moscow’s oil earnings.

A stop to all Russian gas products puts the EU in a tight area as it heads into the fall and winter season.

Since Russia’s unprovoked intrusion of Ukraine, the EU has actually sought to decrease and phase out its imports of Russian gas. However, while it scrambles for alternative products, it stays rather depending on those products.

The bloc has actually currently gotten in touch with all members to willingly decrease their particular gas usage by 15% in the fall and through the winter season in a quote to eke out products.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, likewise speaking with CNBC at the Ambrosetti Forum, stated while the anticipated energy lacks this coming winter season were “very inconvenient for Europe” it would not be “the first time that Europeans had to suffer for their freedom.”

“Here’s what I would say to my European friends: We will work with you to find alternatives to Russian gas and the sooner we can arrive to that destination the safer the world would be and more stable Europe would be,” he stated.

“The biggest blow to Putin’s war machine would be energy independence by Europe. The day you achieve that he becomes a shell of his former self.”