First published June 24, 2022.
In June 2022, Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck admitted he feared that Russia might not restart the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline after its planned summer maintenance. Asked in a ZDF interview whether he worried about a permanent shutdown, he said: "I would have to lie if I said I didn't fear that." The pipeline did come back after maintenance in July, but only at a fraction of its capacity, and by early September Russia had stopped deliveries through it altogether.
This page explains the background to that warning, what Germany did to prepare, and what happened next.
What Nord Stream 1 is
Nord Stream 1 is a pair of pipelines running about 1,200 kilometres under the Baltic Sea, from Vyborg near St Petersburg in Russia to Lubmin on Germany's north-east coast. Opened in 2011, it can carry about 55 billion cubic metres of gas a year, enough to make it the most important single route for Russian gas into Germany and onward to other European countries. It is operated by a company majority-owned by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom.
Germany had become heavily dependent on Russian gas over two decades. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia supplied more than half of the gas Germany used, by most estimates; by the middle of 2022 that share had reportedly fallen to around a third, as Berlin scrambled to find other suppliers. Gas heats around half of German homes and is vital for industries such as chemicals, steel and glass.
Why Germany feared a shutdown in June 2022
In mid-June 2022, Gazprom cut the flow through Nord Stream 1 to about 40 percent of capacity. The company blamed a delay in the return of a Siemens gas turbine that had been sent to Canada for servicing and held up by sanctions. German officials rejected that explanation and called the cut a political decision, since the reduction was far larger than a single turbine could explain.
The pipeline was also due to shut for routine annual maintenance from 11 to 21 July. Habeck and Klaus Müller, president of Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), worried openly that Moscow would use the maintenance as a pretext to keep it closed. Müller warned that a very cold winter combined with careless gas use could make the coming months extremely difficult.
Some reports at the time described Habeck as Germany's finance minister. His actual title was Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and he was also Vice-Chancellor. The finance minister at the time was Christian Lindner.
Germany's gas emergency plan
Germany has a three-stage emergency plan for gas supply:
- Early warning: a crisis team monitors the situation closely. Habeck triggered this stage on 30 March 2022, after Russia demanded payment for gas in roubles.
- Alert: the government judges that there is a serious disruption of supply, but the market can still cope. Habeck declared this stage on 23 June 2022, a day before he spoke about his fears of a shutdown.
- Emergency: the state can step in to allocate gas. Households, hospitals and other essential services are protected, which means industry would face rationing first.
Declaring the alert stage was a signal to companies and consumers to start saving gas and to prepare for higher prices. Habeck said at the time that gas was now a scarce resource.
What happened to the pipeline next
The fears proved partly justified. Flows stopped for the scheduled maintenance from 11 July and resumed on 21 July, but only at around 40 percent. On 25 July Gazprom announced a further cut to 20 percent of capacity. On 31 August flows stopped again for what was described as three days of maintenance, and on 2 September Gazprom said the pipeline would stay shut indefinitely, blaming a turbine fault. Siemens Energy rejected the claim that sanctions were preventing repairs.
Then, on 26 September 2022, underwater explosions ruptured both Nord Stream 1 and the unused Nord Stream 2, leaving three of the four pipes inoperable. Swedish and Danish investigators concluded it was deliberate sabotage. Responsibility remains disputed, and investigations in several countries have produced competing accounts.
How Germany got through the winter
Germany's response was fast and expensive. It filled its gas storage sites ahead of schedule, built its first floating LNG terminals on the North Sea coast, the first at Wilhelmshaven, which opened in December 2022, and signed supply deals for liquefied natural gas from countries including Qatar. Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium became more important sources of pipeline gas.
The government also had to rescue Uniper, Germany's largest gas importer, which was forced to buy expensive replacement gas on the spot market when Russian deliveries dried up. A rescue package was agreed in July 2022, and by December the company had been nationalised. Some coal power plants were temporarily brought back into service, and the last nuclear plants ran until April 2023 instead of closing at the end of 2022.
A mild winter and significant savings by households and industry helped. Germany avoided gas rationing in the winter of 2022–23, although high energy prices hit businesses and families hard.
Lessons from the gas crisis
The June 2022 warning marked the moment Germany accepted that Russian gas could no longer be relied on. The crisis showed how risky it is for a country to depend on one supplier for a vital resource, especially one with political motives. It also accelerated investment in LNG infrastructure, renewable energy, heat pumps and energy efficiency.
For households, the practical lessons were simple and have lasted: turn the heating down a degree, check boilers and insulation, and compare energy contracts. Small changes across millions of homes made a real difference to Germany's gas balance in 2022.
Sources: ZDF interview with Robert Habeck; Business Insider (June 2022); Wikipedia: Nord Stream 1; Wikipedia: 2022–2023 Russia–EU gas dispute; Wikipedia: Uniper; Wikipedia: Robert Habeck.
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