But it still calls on all nations to voluntarily cut their natural gas consumption by 15 percent between now and spring. The agreement came less than 24 hours after Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, Gazprom, said that it would further reduce the amount of natural gas it sends to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. But it foresaw fewer exceptions, and put the Commission itself in charge of calling an emergency and triggering mandatory natural gas curbs. Ms. von der Leyen said that by acting together — and accounting for the energy challenges facing individual nations — the E.U. The flow of Russian gas, which supplies 40 percent of the E.U.’s consumption, was less than one-third the normal average in June.

Source: New York Times July 27, 2022 21:53 UTC