Gazprom justifies its lower gas deliveries to Germany with delayed repairs for which Siemens Energy is responsible. A flimsy argument, says their chief supervisor Kaeser.
The energy company Siemens Energy is defending itself against claims from Russia that gas deliveries to Germany have to be curtailed because the company does not service turbines on time. "It is very convenient to bring in a company that is well known in Russia," said Joe Kaeser, chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens Energy, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". "Even if it were, that would never justify throttling the gas flow so much." And further: "There simply has to be a political motivation, there's no other way."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already criticized the Russian justification as pretentious. Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom further cut gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline in the middle of the month. The gas supplier justified the step with delays in repair work. A ten-day routine maintenance of the pipeline will also begin on July 11. Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens and energy suppliers are concerned that Gazprom Nord Stream 1 could not restart afterwards.
Kaeser praised Scholz's crisis management in the newspaper: "Mr. Scholz may not be the greatest storyteller, as they say nowadays. But the chancellor is objective, level-headed and tries to de-escalate, that's a gift nowadays." You are in the middle of a war communication. He's not so sure whether "you really should always announce everything you're planning. Maybe you'd be better advised to do things first and then talk about them," said Kaeser, who from 2013 to 2021 Siemens boss was.
