Such a deal could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin, the German civil servant in charge of rationing in the event of a supply crisis told the Guardian in an interview. “With its long coastline, the UK has a geographical advantage in terms of infrastructure for importing liquid natural gas [LNG]Klaus Müller, head of the federal network agency for utilities, Bundesnetzagentur, said. “But the experience of recent weeks has also shown us that the size of the natural gas network also matters. The larger the network, the easier it is to accommodate temporary deficits.” While the legal implications of Brexit mean that an emergency aid program between London and Berlin would not be able to replicate “security of supply” (SoS) agreements made between European Union member states, representatives of Müller and the German government have said they are willing to work together outside existing regulations. “Legally, Great Britain has left the European solidarity mechanisms, but the pipelines between the countries still exist,” said Müller, a Green party member and former environment minister in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. “We would always raise our voice to say: let’s act with as much European solidarity as possible.” Germany faces prolonged uncertainty over natural gas supplies to its energy-hungry industries, leaving Europe’s biggest economy in the unknown role of appealing to other EU states to show more solidarity after a dramatic plunge in Russian exports amid opposition of the West in its war against Ukraine. Germany, which has indirect pipeline links to the UK via Belgium, has signed SoS agreements with Austria and Denmark, but has reportedly been frustrated by the reluctance of Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Luxembourg to sign similar accords . Talks with non-EU Switzerland also appear to have stalled. The European Commission wants more member states to enter into such agreements to avoid a bidding war leading to higher prices in such a scenario. A spokesman for the German Ministry of Economic and Energy Affairs said previous agreements had been concluded within the EU framework and there was no such framework for the UK. “Of course, nothing stands in the way of reaching such agreements with Great Britain in principle,” they said. “The federal government is working to open every possible avenue for further natural gas supplies. A conversation with Great Britain would fit into that plan.” Britain, which produces around 44% of its own natural gas, has traditionally been less dependent on imports from Russia than countries such as Germany, Austria or Greece. A UK Government spokesman said: “The UK has a secure and diverse energy system. We are not dependent on Russian energy imports and have plans to protect households and businesses across the spectrum of scenarios this winter in light of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.” However, the UK still meets around half of its natural gas needs through imports from the increasingly competitive international market and has some of the continent’s lowest gas storage capacity. Müller said he was surprised by the lack of a British energy-saving campaign during former prime minister Liz Truss’s short tenure. “I think it is important for governments to be clear with their citizens: without a significant reduction in natural gas use we will not get through this winter without problems. Campaigns that encourage consumers to make such savings are the right thing to do, because they can be empowering. To be silent about the risks or to deny them, that seems to me to be the wrong strategy.” Müller said he was increasingly confident that his country had a “good chance” of going through the winter without needing rations. “Thanks to imports from Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France, Germany receives much more natural gas from its neighboring countries than in previous years,” he said, allowing the country to fill 99.4% of storage tanks from this week. a registration. An unusually mild start to autumn meant German households and businesses had in recent weeks made energy savings higher than the government’s 20% target, and the country only started using its reserves in recent days, weeks later than than in previous years. “If we manage to stick to the 20% savings target as a minimum, have an average winter temperature and no unexpected events in our neighboring countries, then Germany has a chance – and now I would say a good chance – to get through the winter without any shortages. But to get there it will still require unceasing effort.” Unforeseen events, such as damage to critical gas infrastructure in Germany or its neighboring states or a sudden onset of extreme cold weather, could prompt Müller to ask the government to declare a state of emergency. “Just a few days of extreme cold in January, February or March would have a significant impact on our natural gas usage.” If such a scenario seemed inevitable, Müller’s agency would have the choice between distributing natural gas to entire regions of Germany, to individual companies with particularly high demands, or to sectors of industry it declares to be non-vital. “Pharmaceuticals and parts of the food industry are particularly important, because we can’t imagine a situation where we would want to give them up,” he said. “This is not true of the entire industry, of course: Germany could probably survive for a while without chocolate chip cookies. Other areas may be only partially vital: you can’t run a hospital if you don’t have a laundress cleaning the hospital gowns, for example.’ While the good fortune and swift government action made Müller cautiously optimistic, he said he was less confident about predicting the situation next winter. “As much as I am struggling to see that there is a peace deal next year that Ukraine will find acceptable, it is unlikely that we will be able to refill the storage tanks with Russian gas next year. There is also a question of whether we will find it so easy to get our hands on LNG. “As we manage to achieve our goals, I’m not so worried about this winter,” Müller said. “The winter of 23/24 is in such an uncertain future that it is difficult to calculate.”
