I am Nordstream 1, the main pipeline supplier of Russian gas to Europe. Operational since 2011, I am 1,224 kilometers long, connecting the Siberian gas fields to northern Germany.
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The gas is then transported to other European countries. Well, usually, because a few days ago Moscow emptied my pipes and I no longer carry anything. Officially first because of a turbine failure, before saying things clearly: I, Nordstream 1, have become an economic and political weapon. Just watch this video released a few days ago by the Russian gas company Gazprom: we see a Russian technician cutting off my gas, with this caption “The winter will be long.”
Gazprom promises Europe a long, cold winter in this propaganda video @nexta_tv pic.twitter.com/OMJwo0q6dd
— The important (@Limportant_fr) September 7, 2022
This is what I represent today: the threat of a cold and dark Europe. But all this does not please me, because I do not at all want to know the same fate as my twin brother NordStream 2, stillborn at the beginning of the year following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
What if it continues?
Problem: you can’t really do without me. You should know that I deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas every year. To give you an idea, the average annual consumption in Germany is 100 billion cubic meters. And it is not true to say that France is not dependent on me. Even if the European leaders assure that the supply is secure, it is clear how urgently they are looking for other sources of supply. Between Great Britain which wants to lift the ban on hydraulic fracturing, Germany which is reopening its coal-fired power stations, imports from Azerbaijan, not to mention the American LNG which is flowing into Europe…
So, are you going to tell me that with all this, you will be able to do without Nordstream1? Well no, that won’t be enough. Even the International Energy Agency says so. In the long term, the only solution will be to invest massively in other sources of energy. And, in the short term, it will be necessary to turn down the heating a lot.
And, by the way, what happens to the gas I usually carry? Wasted, dispersed, slammed…Russia does not have the means to store these millions of cubic meters of gas that I normally transport. So, while waiting for the possible construction of a new gas pipeline between Russia and China to compete with me, the gas is flared, quite simply burned. Clearly, the gas that should have been used to heat your homes will only be used to warm… the planet.