Energy crisis
Gazprom: The replenishment of European gas storage facilities has started
Gazprom starts delivering gas to Europe. Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Winter is just around the corner and there is a need for heating: the Russian energy giant is filling up European gas storage facilities.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom has announced that it has started replenishing its European gas storage facilities.
The company approved a plan to feed gas into five underground facilities in November, according to a statement on Tuesday. Implementation of the plan has already started.
In view of the current energy crisis in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the state-owned company at the end of October to increase deliveries to Germany and Austria. Gazprom boss Alexei Miller stated at the time that this would be possible after November 8th – as soon as the Russian stores were filled.
In recent weeks, critics have repeatedly accused Gazprom of not responding to increased European demand. It was presumed that the Russian side wanted to force the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation quickly. Moscow denied such allegations. Rather, Russia accuses the EU of neglecting to refill its gas storage facilities in time after the last cold winter.