Cyprus pledges to help EU reduce energy output

Cyprus is ready to contribute in every possible way to reduce energy demand, so any gap in the supply of natural gas on the European market can be narrowed.

This was the promise from Energy Ministry official Marios Panayides who represented Cyprus at Tuesday’s extraordinary meeting of the EU Energy Council on the Russian gas crisis.

During the Summit, member states reached a political agreement on coordinated measures for reducing the demand for natural gas to avoid any gap in the supply of natural gas to EU member states from Russia this winter.

A voluntary 15% reduction in gas consumption by EU countries was proposed from 1 August to 31 March 2023.

In his intervention, Panayides referred to the importance of initiatives at the EU level and in the member states to strengthen energy security and ensure stable energy supply to vulnerable consumers and businesses.

He said awareness campaigns are planned to target consumers and businesses in the coming months.

Additionally, he pointed out the importance of exploiting domestic energy sources and accelerating the utilisation of renewable energy sources, also highlighting the need to diversify energy sources through the completion of interconnections.

Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas giant, announced Monday it was halting the operation of one of the last two operating turbines of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline due to the “technical condition of the engine”.

Deliveries to Europe via the pipeline were reduced to 33 million cubic metres daily – about 20% of its capacity.

Last year, Russian gas accounted for 40% of the EU’s imports of the energy source.

Concerns in the bloc over energy supplies, especially gas, have increased as Russia curtailed deliveries in recent months amid the war in Ukraine, seen as retaliation for Western sanctions.