Germany seeks pact with Britain to prevent winter of gas shortages

Germany is seeking a solidarity pact with the United Kingdom on emergency winter gas supplies amid reports that Britain is set to announce a major energy security deal with the United States.

A German civil servant in charge of rationing in case of a supply crisis told The Guardian newspaper that such an agreement could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin.

Germany has indirect gas pipeline links with the UK via Belgium, and the plan would allow Europe's largest consumers of natural gas to bail each other out if there were any shortages, said Klaus Muller, the head of the federal network agency for utilities, Bundesnetzagentur.

"With its long coastline, the UK has a geographic advantage when it comes to infrastructure for importing liquid natural gas (LNG)," he said.

"But the experience of the last few weeks has also shown us that the size of the gas network also matters. The larger the network, the easier to adjust temporary deficits."

Muller, a member of the Green Party and former environment minister in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, said the German government has expressed willingness to cooperate with the UK on gas supplies outside new regulations post-Brexit.

"Legally, Great Britain has left European solidarity mechanisms, but the pipelines between the countries are still there," he said.

"We would always raise our voice to say: let's act with as much European solidarity as possible."

Germany has signed similar supply agreements with Austria and Denmark, but has reportedly been frustrated by unwillingness from Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Luxembourg on such plans.

A spokesperson for the German ministry for economic and energy affairs was cited as saying there was no regulation preventing an agreement with the UK.

"Of course, nothing stands in the way of also striking such agreements with Great Britain in principle," they said. "The federal government is working on opening up every possible path for further gas supplies. A conversation with Great Britain would fit into that plan."

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce a major gas deal with the US after the COP27 climate change summit being held in Egypt this week, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

The US is planning to sell billions of cubic meters of LNG to Britain over the coming year as part of an "energy security partnership", the newspaper said.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has intensified energy shortages across Europe, prompting warnings of blackouts this winter. The UK government is expected to say the US deal indicates the UK is moving away from Russian-linked oil and gas imports.

Government figures familiar with the US-UK energy deal told the Telegraph the package will be for around 10 billion cubic meters. It was noted that the whole of the European Union was promised 15 billion cubic meters by the US this spring.