DISINFO: Energy crisis in the EU was provoked by the US and the EU itself
SUMMARY
EU officials make strategic decisions based on false messages, not knowing the real situation. But Putin counted everything for them. The energy deficit in Europe could be about 70 billion cubic metres. This is the result of the economic policy of the European Commission. Russia has nothing to do with it.
In fact, Russia does not reduce and, moreover, does not hold back gas supplies to Europe, but increases them.
RESPONSE
The statements are untrue. Already in August 2021, Gazprom announced that it expects exports to Europe at 183 billion cubic metres. This is the upper limit of the company's previous forecasts, but significantly less than it supplied at comparable production levels in 2018-2019.
Gazprom began to cut supplies to the European Union in the summer of 2021 when the storage season started and left its own UGS facilities in Germany empty by more than half.
By 18 October 2021, Gazprom booked about a third of offered additional gas transit capacity via the Yamal-Europe pipeline via Poland for November and has not booked any volumes via Ukraine. Gazprom's data studied by Reuters also showed its gas exports declined in the first half of October from the same period in September.
Since October, the company has reduced transit through Ukraine by 20% and three times through Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline. Finally, after Putin ordered Gazprom to fill EU stocks, gas prices went down on 29 October.
Analysts have told Reuters that Gazprom has not booked larger volumes in a move to push for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is awaiting regulatory clearance from Germany to start gas exports. This was confirmed by sources close to Gazprom and the Kremlin, Bloomberg reports.
A group of European Parliament lawmakers has asked the European Commission to investigate Gazprom's role in soaring European gas prices, saying the company's behaviour had made them suspect market manipulation. The artificial creation of a deficit in order to increase prices is a classic case of violation of both Russian and European antitrust laws to which Gazprom is committed.
See other disinformation related to Europe's energy supply here.