MOSCOW, December 10 Germany in January-September of this year reduced gas imports by 2.5 times compared to 2021 , while the country’s costs remained the same due to rising prices, as follows from calculations based on data from the German statistical service.
According to agency estimates, German gas purchases decreased by 1.8 times in January-September 2022 — to 65.9 billion cubic meters from 121.7 billion, and this year they completely collapsed to 47.9 billion cubic meters.
At the same time, the average annual price of one cubic meter of gas has increased sharply — from 0.18 euros in 2021 to 0.45 this year. Because of this, even despite a significant collapse in imports, Berlin spent about the same amount on gas as two years ago — 21.3 billion euros in January-September this year versus 22.2 billion for the same period in 2021 .
The head of the German government, Olaf Scholz, yesterday held Russia responsible for stopping gas supplies to Europe, adding that Germany had lost half of the hydrocarbons it received. Deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called the chancellor's words a lie, noting that European governments themselves made such a decision.
Gas supplies to Germany became significantly more complicated after the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines last year. In November, the head of the Ministry of Energy Nikolai Shulginov said that Russia itself did not “close” the western direction of energy supplies and remains a reliable gas supplier even in the current conditions.
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