Russia says it has the ability to supply more gas to Europe

Original title: Russia says it has the ability to supply more gas to Europe
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President, said on the 7th that before the "beixi-2" pipeline is put into use, Russia has the ability to increase the natural gas supply to Europe by using the existing natural gas transmission pipeline.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on the 6th that putting the "beixi-2" pipeline into use as soon as possible will increase the gas supply and stabilize the European natural gas price as soon as possible. Some people believe that Novak's statement is intended to pressure European regulators to quickly complete the approval and certification of pipelines.
On September 10, Gazprom announced through social media that the construction of "beixi-2" natural gas pipeline had been completed that morning.
At the press conference on the 7th, when asked about Novak's above statement, Peskov said that Russia has the ability to increase gas transmission on the basis of existing pipelines. "There is this potential. It all depends on demand, contractual obligations and commercial agreements."
The "beixi-2" pipeline arrives in Germany through the Baltic Sea. It was started in 2018 and completed in September this year. It is planned to be put into use by the end of this year. This is another pipeline for Russia to export natural gas to Europe by bypassing Ukraine. The US government has long opposed and hindered the construction of "beixi-2" project.
European natural gas prices continued to rise due to factors such as the sharp increase in energy demand caused by the global economic recovery. There have been some arguments in Europe recently, blaming the rise in gas prices on Russia, believing that Gazprom (Gazprom) failed to increase gas supply.

This is the autumn scene taken in Moscow, the Russian capital, on October 4. (issued by Xinhua news agency, photographed by yevgeni sinicen)
Russian President Vladimir Putin refuted this argument on the 6th. He said that Russia has always been a reliable natural gas supplier. In the first nine months of this year, Russia's gas supply to Europe increased by 15% over the same period last year, and the total amount of gas supply to Europe is expected to reach a new high this year.
Putin said at an energy conference on the same day that how to increase gas supply to the market should be considered, but caution should be taken to avoid setting off an upsurge of speculation. The increased natural gas will appear in the futures market in St. Petersburg.
This means that in addition to existing gas supply contracts, European buyers can buy natural gas in the Russian domestic market. Affected by this good news, European natural gas prices fell on the 6th.

A customer refuels his car at a gas station in Berlin, Germany, on October 1. Preliminary statistics released by Eurostat on the same day showed that affected by rising energy prices and supply chain bottlenecks, the inflation rate in the eurozone continued to rise in September, reaching 3.4% at an annual rate, exceeding market expectations and reaching a 13 year high. (photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shan Yuqi)
The shortage of natural gas supply has led to the soaring cost of gas and electricity in many European countries. European people are worried that the cost of heating in winter will be greatly increased. The French government promised at the end of September that electricity and natural gas prices would not rise this winter.
British energy regulators said on the 7th that 12 energy suppliers in the UK have closed down, affecting more than 2 million consumers, and more energy suppliers are expected to be unable to survive; The regulatory authorities consider strengthening the supervision of the energy market.
Peskov said at the end of September that the natural gas volume delivered by Russian gas to Europe "is close to the historical (highest) record in recent days". Russian gas is willing to consider signing a new long-term contract to increase gas supply and meet the increasing natural gas demand in Europe. (Guo Qian)