DUESSELDORF , Aug 10 — Germany’s network regulator, which would be in charge of gas rationing in the event of a supply emergency, has received scores of exemption requests from across industry, reflecting fears of potential production cuts and subsequent losses.
While industry and regulators are trying to work out a plan for what happens at phase three — when rationing kicks in — individual sectors have started to ask for leniency and some companies have begun changing work practices to reduce energy use. Big gas consuming sectors that have raised their voices publicly are the glass, steel, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, where gas is used to make everything from plastics and fertiliser to fibres and solvents.Russia’s Gazprom is supplying 20 per cent of the usual capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which normally carries around a third of Russian gas exports to Europe, in an energy stand-off rooted in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.