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It is predicted that the crisis that originated from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will escalate into a global energy crisis this winter.
There is a growing sense of crisis in Europe that natural gas from Russia will be cut off.
There are concerns that it will be difficult for Korea to avoid such a crisis.
Reporter Bae Joo-hwan will tell you.
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A gas pipeline that supplies natural gas from Russia to Germany.
This is Northstream.
Several European countries rely on these pipes for natural gas.
But a week ago, Russia cut off gas supply.
They said they would do regular inspections for ten days, but Europe is not accepting them straight away.
They see Europe shutting down its gas pipelines altogether in retaliation for its continued participation in Russian sanctions.
[로베르트 하벡/독일 부총리]
“Even if Russia says ‘cannot connect the pipe again’ with a few small technical problems as an excuse, it is not a big surprise.”
European natural gas futures prices more than doubled in a month.
Europe is ramping up its natural gas imports from the US and the Middle East.
The problem is that the aftermath can also affect our country.
Korea mainly imports liquefied natural gas by ship from the Middle East, Australia, and the United States.
Natural gas prices are also rising, but ships are limited.
Europe and Korea will have to compete for liquefied natural gas.
Europe is the same northern hemisphere as us, so the heating demand in winter also overlaps.
[유승훈/서울과학기술대학교 에너지정책학과 교수]
“If some of the LNG that should come to Korea goes to Europe, there could be a power outage in winter or a situation where it becomes difficult to heat due to a lack of city gas supply.”
Natural gas accounts for 35% of Korea’s electricity production.
20 million households use it as fuel for heating.
But the mandatory stockpile is only nine days’ worth of oil.
The government said that if the price of natural gas soars, electricity and gas rates may rise further, and that it will respond preemptively.
This is Bae Joo-hwan from MBC News.
Video Editing: Bae Soo-jin
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