European countries have triggered emergency plans that could lead to rationing of natural gas and signaled a shift back to coal-fired power as the largest buyers of Russian fuel seek to secure their energy supplies.
Russian state gas giant Gazprom cut natural-gas supplies to Germany by more than half since last week due to equipment problems in Canada.
Germany's Habeck said last week that the move was political, but Moscow insists it's technical. "We have gas, it is ready to be delivered, but the Europeans must give back the equipment, which should be repaired under their obligations," said the Kremlin spokesman, according to the report.
Despite a ban on imports of oil and coal, the European Union has not decided to limit gas purchases.
Emergency plans were being worked on by the Netherlands and the Danes.
In the Netherlands, authorities will alert the public if there is a shortage of gas, but it was not clear how gas would be rationed.
If the situation gets out of hand, natural gas will be limited to some industrial users so consumers can have winter heating.
According to two government sources, Italy is considering declaring a state of alert on energy after Russia's deliveries fell short of what it had asked for. Italy could begin rationing gas under a state of alert.
Emergency plans have been triggered by Germany and Austria.
Natural-gas demand for cooling systems is going up because of the heat. Russia's decision to choke off supply raises questions about how the region can prepare for the important winter months.
The price of coal for delivery in Europe has more than doubled this year, while the price of gas has more than tripled.
Coal-generated power may be able to help Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands weather an energy crisis. Their plans to phase out coal-fired plants by 2038 is at odds with it.
Germany's Habeck said it took a "bitter" decision to restart coal power plants but it was necessary to cut gas use.
If we don't do it, the storage facilities won't be enough for the winter season. He said that we were blackmailable on a political level.
In case of emergencies, Austria's last coal-fired power plant will be converted to run on gas. Coal-generated energy production was removed by the Netherlands.
According to an industrial source, Italy's coal-fired power plants have been storing coal recently.
Even though there is a natural-gas crisis, Ursula von der Leyen said EU countries need to focus on renewable energy.
von der Leyen told the Financial Times that we need to make sure that we use the crisis to move forward and not to have a backsliding on the dirty fossil fuels.
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