Due to a cool and damp—gotta dry grains lest the ergot infest and everybody be trippin' (and gangrene-in')—due to the weather this Autumn the Germans started drawing down their stored gas a couple months early, after building up the inventory to a very respectable 93% or so of normal.
So the question becomes: "Is there enough non-Russian gas that can be made available?" (at a price)
From Asia Times, October 2:
Cold winter looms without Russian gas but moves are afoot to fundamentally shift continent’s position in global gas markets
Accusations continue to fly about the cause of major leaks from the two Nord Stream pipelines transporting gas through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe.
Until this latest development, Russia had maintained that Western sanctions were behind disruptions to supply from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, as maintenance and repair of essential equipment could not proceed.
The German company Siemens that supplied the equipment maintains that this isn’t the case. Politicians across Europe have accused Russia of blackmail and of weaponizing the supply of natural gas.
Whatever the truth, most of Europe will now have to face winter 2022, and likely beyond, without any Russian pipeline gas. The EU is determined to end its reliance on Russian gas as soon as possible, a process that might be accelerated by current events.
The next two winters are going to be very challenging for all of Europe’s gas consumers: households, businesses and industry. But moves are in play that will fundamentally change the continent’s position in global gas markets.
In the past, Europe played a balancing role: a place where liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes were sent, normally in the summer months, when demand was low in Asia. As such, LNG was marginal in European gas security relative to Russian pipeline gas....
....MUCH MORE
