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The German Chancellor and Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a deal that will see gas transported from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and Poland via the nearly built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. But Mr Putin has reportedly already started tightening his grip on gas supplies to the EU in a bid to stop Berlin from implementing EU laws across the system. Experts have questioned why the German Chancellor made this move in the first place, after previously being warned that Mr Putin could “weaponise” the pipeline.
Energy expert Professor Michael Bradshaw, from Warwick Business School, told Express.co.uk: “It’s difficult to understand the logic behind the deal because it is not necessary.
“It didn’t [The EU] need the additional volume that pipeline provides, and I think most people looking at it will understand that it gives Russia the ability to stop flowing gas through Ukraine.
“We’re running into a new problem with gas and that is the EU’s climate change ambitions, meaning that they want to stop investing in gas where the long-term answer is to stop using gas altogether.
“It does look a bit strange in the era of net zero that they built another pipeline to bring more hydrocarbons into Europe.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to reach net zero emission by 2050.
The EU have the same target, but a newly built pipeline will be difficult to justify at COP26, the upcoming climate summit to be held in Glasgow where world leaders will discuss their climate goals.
Professor Bradshaw said: “Whether you want to see it as the economics not making sense, it’s a geopolitical pipeline, environmentally it doesn’t stack up, it’s difficult to understand the logic behind it.”
But while the EU looks like it may be on the verge of a gas crisis, the UK may be in a safer position.
READ MORE: UK forced to fire up coal power plant by Putin
Professor Bradshaw said: “We’re very fortunate that we have a trading relationship with Norway where we have pipeline fields coming directly from them to the UK that we can rely on a certain amount of Norwegian supply.”
In 2020, 11.7 million metric tons of crude oil and 1.4 million metric tons of natural gas were imported to the UK from Norway.
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