In the run-up to the Bundestag elections scheduled for 23 February, representatives of some of Germany’s largest chemical companies have called for the country to return to buying Russian gas. This was reported by the DW* main news channel.
The representative of the company SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz Karsten Franzke in a comment for Bild emphasised the desire to ‘return to normal economic relations’ with Russia, which ‘include, of course, and gas supplies’. However, according to him, this will only be possible after the conflict is over, and until then it would be advisable not only to refrain from buying gas, but also to deny access to the German market to suppliers of other ‘gas products’ from Russia, in particular fertilisers.
Meanwhile, Christoph Günther, the manager of Chemiepark Leuna, which supplies gas to about 100 companies in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, called on the German authorities in an interview with the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung newspaper to return to pipeline gas supplies from Russia. He called the current situation ‘unreasonable’. According to him, gas imports from Russia continue, although pipelines are not used for this purpose. The head of Chemiepark Leuna estimates that about 10 per cent of gas sold in Germany is from Russia, and the refusal to supply it via pipeline has increased its price by €30 billion a year.
The rejection of Russian gas is not the only reason for the increase in gas prices in the FRG.
‘We must not go back to old – supposedly convenient – solutions and avoid over-dependence on individual countries in the future,’ a spokesman for the Chemical Industries Association stressed to Bild. According to him, the increase in gas prices in Germany is directly related to the network usage fee, which is higher in Germany than in other EU countries. In addition, the gas storage tax has quadrupled recently, according to the association, TC summarises.
*Organisation performing the functions of a foreign agent
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