In the wake of the 2022 winter which saw the gas storage fill levels sink to historic lows, the German Bundestag met over the weekend to affirm that the gas storage operators are required to fill storage facilities up to 90 percent of capacity by 1 November of each year. To this end the Bundestag passed a corresponding law.
Germany's Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck visited Norway earlier this month to discuss how Germany and Norway could work together to develop a hydrogen pipeline link between the two countries.
Open Grid Europe (OGE) and Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk Aktiengesellschaft (RWE), German powerhouses in the transmission and production of energy respectively, are teaming up to lead Germany and the rest of Europe (if not the world) in the development of a new hydrogen industry and infrastructure dubbed H2ercules.
Is it possible to replace around half of natural gas imports from Russia with Biogas from Germany, and thereby dramatically reduce Germany's dependency on Russian energy?
This is the question resonating around Germany and other European countries nowadays, as Vladimir Putin's Russia continues its War of Aggression on the Ukraine.
A mere few months ago, the Dutch government was dead set on closing the estimated 450 billion cubic meter in the ground Groningen gas field for good, despite the higher prices that gas was then netting.
A few months ago, around the time that the final pipeline segments were put down into the Baltic to complete construction of the 1200-km Nord Stream 2, we wrote on these pages that Nord Stream 2 was experiencing a painful and difficult birth. Fast forward to today and the threatening massive ground war in the Ukraine and possibly other countries in Europe since 1945, we've entered a different
Coming on the heels of Russia's announcement that it is prepared to divert gas supplies from Europe if punitive sanctions are imposed on its economy and leaders, Luca Schieppati, the Managing Director of the 870-km long Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), said that TAP is ready to expand its capacity one year in advance if needed to meet market demand.
In the event of war in the Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on the Russian economy and its leaders by the United States and its NATO allies, et al., Russia would be ready to re-route gas supplies to other markets, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said this past week.
Russia has agreed to a 30-year contract to supply gas to China via Power of Siberia 2, a new 2600-km pipeline originating in the Bovanenkovo and Kharasavey gas fields in Yamal, bolstering an energy alliance with Beijing amid Moscow's strained ties with the West over Ukraine and other issues.
With the prospect of war looming over the European continent, the US Government has begun asking Eni, TotalEnergies and other energy companies operating in Algeria to see if more gas can be sourced from the country, sources familiar with the matter said.
