[War & Business] Germany Trapped by Its Gas Pipelines

A natural gas metering station in the Malnau area, located in the eastern border region of Germany. This is where pipeline natural gas (PNG) supplied from Russia through Poland to Germany converges. Malnau, Germany ? Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As condemnation pours in over the evidence of civilian massacres by Russian troops discovered in Bucha, Ukraine, calls for energy sanctions that could deliver a substantial blow to Russia are growing louder. However, these measures have yet to be implemented as Germany, a key country in both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), remains steadfast in its opposition.

Public opinion within Germany is also boiling over. Recent polls in Germany show that more than half of the population supports restarting nuclear power plants and temporarily increasing coal usage to ban imports of Russian natural gas. Nevertheless, the German government continues to oppose such measures, citing the lack of alternative import sources to replace Russian natural gas immediately.

In reality, Germany depends on Russian 'Pipeline Natural Gas (PNG)' for more than 55% of its total energy supply. Considering that neighboring countries like the United Kingdom and France have Russian PNG dependency rates of around 5%, this is an exceptionally high figure. Among Western European countries, excluding former Eastern Bloc nations, few have as high a dependency on Russian PNG as Germany.

Moreover, Germany does not even have a single port terminal for importing alternative supplies of U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas (LNG). Given the hostile relations between Russia and the EU that worsened after the forced annexation of Crimea in 2014, this is a perplexing situation. Germany has been relying on a potential adversary for the majority of its energy needs.

The actions of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der, who served as a director of the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom just before the outbreak of war in early February, have also come under criticism. He still remains on Gazprom’s board. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who pushed forward the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline directly connecting Russia despite U.S. opposition, is also cited as a subject of controversy.

Germany’s close ties with Russian gas date back to the 1960s. After World War II, West Germany, which was emerging as a steel powerhouse, began a natural gas cooperation project with the former Soviet Union. Germany constructed the pipelines to supply gas, while the Soviet Union laid the pipelines and supplied the gas. Since then, after then-Chancellor Willy Brandt signed the first gas supply contract with Russia in 1973, the pipeline cooperation between the two countries expanded and has continued for over half a century to this day.

The United States had repeatedly warned about the clandestine pipeline dealings between Germany and the former Soviet Union since the 1970s. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Germany’s dependence on Russian gas only increased. At the time of East Germany’s collapse in 1989, the dependency on Russian gas was in the 30% range, but today it has surpassed 50%, making substitution virtually impossible. This leaves an important lesson that energy supply issues, which are critical to a nation’s fate, must never be driven solely by short-term immediate interests.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.