Donald Trump’s claim that Germany imports 70 per cent of its gas from Russia at a fiery Nato summit today is correct – and the country will soon receive even more.
The EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, says that Russia is responsible for between 50% and 75% of Germany’s total gas imports.
And experts say that figure could dramatically increase after a new pipeline between Russia and Germany opens in two years time.
Germany already imports 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia via the Nord Stream pipeline and in two years time will pump another 55 billion cubic meters through the new Nord Stream 2 network.
Most of the remaining 30% comes from Norway.
Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 will carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany when the latter opens in 2020
US President Donald Trump (right) criticized Germany for its reliance on Russia for natural gas on Wednesday
Germany is the world’s biggest natural gas importer and needs to import 92 percent of the gas it consumes.
Trump also claimed today that Germany has spent ‘billions and billions of dollars a year’ on Russian gas.
Germany’s overall bill for Russian gas last year was 17 billion euros ($21 billion) for some 87 billion cubic meters, according to Gazprom the state-run Russian gas company.
The cost for the Nord Stream 2 is expected to be around €8.8 billion ($10.33 billion) while the original Nord Stream project came in at €7.4 billion ($8.69).
Donald Trump also questioned the role of the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who is now working for Gazprom.
Schroeder signed the deal for Nord Stream in haste after being ousted by Angela Merkel in a narrow election defeat in 2005.
Just weeks after leaving office, however, he started overseeing the implementation of the project for Gazprom.
Schroeder took up position as head of Nord Stream AG’s shareholder committee and has worked for the gas behemoth for several years since.
In 2017, Russia nominated Schröder to also serve as an independent director of the board of its biggest oil producer Rosnet.
The company was under a number of western sanctions because of the Ukraine crisis at the time of his appointment and the decision caused outcry.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (right) shakes hands with Vladimir Putin. Schroeder is a senior executive at state-run Russian oil company Gazprom
The former politician is rumoured to have received a multi-million Euro payout from Gazprom over his role in the pipeline’s creation and is set to pocket even more with the announcement of the second phase of the Nord Stream project.
Schroeder has been slammed as ‘Gazprom Gerd’ for his relationship with the company.
Angela Merkel, his Christian Democrat successor, said Schroeder’s decision to take on the job with a Russian gas company was ‘not okay’.
Trump’s criticism of the gas deal with Russia might also be an aggressive pitch for US business.
The US is fast becoming one of the world’s leading exporters of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) due to its bountiful supply of shale gas.
This would be an alternative to the Russian gas and would need to be shipped over.
But figures within Russia dismissed the threat of LNG production as ‘too expensive’ because of the transportation costs involved.