© Reuters German companies complain of shortness of breath! No gas, just off
Financial Associated Press, October 27 (publisher Ma Lan)Gas conservation has been repeatedly reiterated as one of the key measures in Europe’s response to the gas crisis.
According to the European Commission’s view, EU countries will save 15% of the average for the same period of the last five years between August 2022 and March 2023, but a German study shows that this view is a bit too strong.
DIHK, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that in the context of rising energy costs, companies have entered a life-or-death period and there isn’t much room to save natural gas.
DIHK surveyed a total of 3,500 companies across various industries, and 60% of companies believe the savings potential of natural gas is zero or minimal over the next five years and the maximum savings could be as little as 2%. Another 20% of companies believe that space savings are 2-5% and another 20% believe that it is possible to reduce energy consumption by more than 5%.
But these estimates are far from the 15% the EU is looking for.
Peter Adrian, president of DIHK, said that the company’s short-term operational potential is exhausted and the goal of further reducing natural gas consumption in current production operations is obviously unrealistic and the only way to make savings is close the plant as a gift.
Therefore, other ways need to be found to mobilize additional gas or save gas, which is the only way to avoid bankruptcy and protect the value chain.
DIHK believes natural gas auctions can be a good way to allow companies that do not need gas to trade natural gas for a fee and provide other companies with energy that is in short supply. But to get enough companies to get involved recently, Germany needs a system that can store more natural gas.
In doing so, larger gas buyers get an additional incentive to reduce their consumption and help fill their gas storage further, Adrian said.
German manufacturing is no longer competitive: ArcelorMittal, one of Europe’s largest steel producers, rocked the industry last month when it closed a large steel plant in Hamburg. He recently reiterated that by the end of October he would close the blast furnace at the Bremen plant.
ArcelorMittal CEO Reiner Blaschek warned that German manufacturing was no longer competitive.
Without further action, the economy will fall into disaster. Blaschek recalled that not only steel but other industrial sectors also have serious problems and that the decline of the steel industry could lead to a domino effect, which will cause other industries in Germany to collapse.
According to the German Steel Trade Association, additional energy costs in Germany are projected to exceed $ 10.6 billion in 2022, or about 25% of the steel industry’s average annual turnover.
Germany has now invested nearly € 200 billion to save the energy crisis, but the key issue of the gas crisis is to maintain a stable and cheap supply. And now most of the LNG ships carrying liquefied natural gas are blocked in European seaports, because Europe does not have sufficient gas storage facilities to store new LNG.
In the short term, this batch of LNG will continue to float at sea, unable to unload and become a supply for Europe. European companies can only hope for “gas” and continue to fight against the gas shortage until European countries have greater gas storage capacity.
DIHK added that more and more companies are telling them that new contracts for the supply of electricity or gas in Germany are no longer available.
