EU asks countries to cut gas use to tackle Russian 'blackmail'

The European Commission on Wednesday urged the EU countries to cut demand for natural gas by 15 per cent over coming months. This step is being recommended to secure winter stocks and fight Russian "blackmail". EU commissioners have announced an emergency plan and has urged member states to give Brussels powers to impose compulsory energy rationing in case Russia cuts Europe's gas.

Last year Russia provided 40 per cent of Europe's total consumption of natural gas. However, in the wake of Ukraine conflict and EU imposing sanctions on Russia, it is widely expected that Russia would significantly reduce gas supply as a retaliatory measure. It has already started to do so.

Any further disruption to supply would also push consumer prices higher and raise the risk of a deep recession.

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"Russia is blackmailing us," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.

"Russia is using energy as a weapon and therefore, in any event, whether it's a partial major cut off of Russian gas or total cut off... Europe needs to be ready."

Europe is eagerly watching whether Russia will resume gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Thursday when scheduled maintenance is due to be completed.

German pipeline manager Gascade said it expected Russian gas deliveries to resume at 40 percent of capacity, the level of supplies before maintenance work.

On Wednesday evening, the president of Germany's Federal Network Agency Klaus Mueller estimated on Twitter that the delivery on Thursday might only be "around 30 percent" of the capacity, after updating the data.

(With inputs from agencies)

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