{"id":1563763,"date":"2022-07-21T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T10:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1563763"},"modified":"2022-07-21T06:50:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T10:50:51","slug":"eu-asks-countries-to-significantly-cut-natural-gas-consumption-until-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eu-asks-countries-to-significantly-cut-natural-gas-consumption-until-next-year\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Asks Countries to Significantly Cut Natural Gas Consumption Until Next Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Feu-asks-countries-to-significantly-cut-natural-gas-consumption-until-next-year%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1563763&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The European Union asked its member states to cut consumption of natural gas by 15 percent at a minimum until spring 2023.<\/p>\n<p>According to the proposed regulation (<a href=\"https:\/\/energy.ec.europa.eu\/system\/files\/2022-07\/Regulation.pdf\">pdf<\/a>), released Wednesday, it would set an initial 15 percent reduction in natural gas usage between Aug. 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, top <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-eu\">EU<\/a> officials alleged that the reduction is needed due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-russia\">Russia<\/a>\u2019s war in Ukraine. The EU, which includes a number of NATO states, has backed Ukraine while imposing numerous sanctions on Moscow, including top Kremlin leaders in response to the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>On July 11, Russia shut off its Nord Stream I pipeline that carries Russian gas to the rest of Europe via the Baltic Sea for maintenance. However, the shutoff drew speculation that Moscow could close down the project for a much longer period of time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia is blackmailing us. Russia is using energy as a weapon. And therefore in any event, whether a partial major cut-off of Russian gas or a total cut-off of Russian gas, Europe needs to be ready,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vonderleyen\/status\/1549700751915712513?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\">wrote<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Russia has refuted the accusations, saying it has been a reliable energy supplier.<\/p>\n<h2>What It Means<\/h2>\n<p>Europe is racing to fill its gas storage ahead of winter and build a buffer if supplies are restricted in the near future, and a\u00a0dozen or so EU countries are already facing reduced Russian deliveries. EU officials claim a full Russian halt on gas supplies to the bloc is likely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe recent escalation of disruptions of gas supply from Russia points to significant risk that a complete and protracted halt of Russian gas supplies may materialize in an abrupt and unilateral way,\u201d the European Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/qanda_22_4609\">said<\/a> in a memo about the gas cut proposal. \u201cTaking action now can reduce both the risk and the costs for Europe in case of further or full disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4566157\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/06\/29\/2.download-1200x679-1200x679.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4566157\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/06\/29\/2.download-1200x679-600x340.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"340\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Steam leaves a cooling tower of the Lichterfelde gas-fired power plant in Berlin, Germany on March 30, 2022. (Michael Sohn\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<p>If the measure is passed, EU nations would have to update their national plans by September 2022 and include details about reducing gas consumption. For years now, EU nations have become dependent on importing Russian gas, while some states\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/gas-crisis-prompts-germany-consider-extending-life-three-remaining-nuclear-2022-07-18\/\">like Germany<\/a>\u2014have mostly barred the use of nuclear power and have attempted to utilize solar, wind, and hydropower instead.<\/p>\n<p>Germany\u2019s economy minister, Robert Habeck, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jul\/15\/gas-blackmail-how-putins-weaponised-energy-supplies-are-hurting-europe\">admitted to the Guardian<\/a>\u00a0that his country made\u00a0a \u201cgrave political mistake\u201d by relying on Russian gas. The country had imported a significant amount of gas via Nord Stream I and wanted to double the amount with the proposed Nord Stream II.<\/p>\n<p>The EU plan comes as Russia\u2019s state-run energy firm Gazprom said that it can\u2019t fulfill gas contracts with the EU due to unforeseeable circumstances. The company reportedly sent a letter this week informing some of its EU clients of a force majeure on gas supplies.<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin also said Wednesday that the capacity of Nord Stream 1 could be reduced due to problems with other pumping units, one of which would need to be sent for maintenance on July 26.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reuters contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-jack-phillips\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/06\/13\/Jack-Phillips.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Phillips\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>Breaking News Reporter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter at The Epoch Times based in New York.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Union asked its member states to cut consumption of natural gas by 15 percent at a minimum until spring 2023.According to the proposed regulation (pdf), released Wednesday, it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}