Europe is catastrophically short of gas: a deficit of 300 billion cubic meters per year is threatening, warned the head of one of the largest German energy companies Uniper Andreas Schirenbeck.
In this situation, in addition to the pipeline, more and more Russian LNG will have to be purchased. But Nord Stream 2, according to Europeans, needs to be launched as soon as possible.
In 2018, Europe needed 390 billion cubic meters of imported gas. Half was provided by Russia-Gazprom delivered a record 201.7 billion cubic meters. With the commissioning of Nord stream-2 with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year, exports will increase significantly.
However, according to Andreas Schirenbeck, head of the German energy Uniper, even Nord Stream 2 will not satisfy growing European demand. According to his estimates, in the future, the gas shortage on the continent may reach 300 billion cubic meters per year.
The lack of natural gas is the result not so much of an increase in gas consumption by Europeans, but of a steady decline in their own production. In the Netherlands, Groningen, which accounted for a sixth of all gas production in the EU, are conserving wells, and the final closure of the field was recently postponed from 2030 to 2022.
Production is also reduced by Denmark, which allows Russia to build a section of the pipeline in territorial waters. The Taira field has suspended operations and the Kingdom is now buying pipeline gas from Germany. As Danmarks Radio notes, this means gas dependence on Russia, since the Germans get fuel from the Russians. Analysts are confident that the Danes will give the green light to Nord stream-2 within a month, otherwise Copenhagen will face multimillion-dollar claims from the companies-operators of the project.