According to the Bundesnetzagentur, the German federal network watchdog, an acute gas shortage that might arise due to the war in Ukraine would have serious consequences for the population.
"Unfortunately, it cannot be completely ruled out that we have to make decisions that have serious consequences for companies, jobs, value chains, supply chains, entire regions," said Klaus Müller, president of the Bundesnetzagentur, in an interview with Handelsblatt on Tuesday .
He called on all gas consumers to "conserve gas today so as not to strain the storage capacity". In his opinion, there is still a lot to be done in this area.
"We've all been too careless for too long," he said. He stressed that the network agency is fully focusing its efforts on preventing gas shortages.
"We don't want the third phase of the gas emergency plan to be announced," he said, adding that in the third phase, "it is necessary to find out where there are savings opportunities through intensive negotiations with various sectors."
The Bundesnetzagentur is planning a comprehensive survey of industrial gas consumption in order to be able to decide on shutdowns in the event of a gas shortage. "We will probably start the survey of the 2,500 largest gas consumers in May," Müller told Handelsblatt. For this, the authority will need up-to-date insight into gas consumption.
"Thanks to this, we get data that allows us to respond dynamically."
The head of the authority rejected the demand that the shutdown sequence be determined before the acute gas shortage occurs.
“A mandatory stop list is an absurd idea because it does not take into account the dynamics of events,” he said. According to him, for the time being, the emphasis should be placed on using all available opportunities to reduce consumption on a voluntary basis, in order to prevent the introduction of a forced scenario.
Source: MTI
Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / AFP
