German leaders are stepping up warnings of impending turmoil and natural-gas shortages in Europe’s biggest economy, which relies on Russia for about one-third of its energy.

The European Commission will next month present a plan for EU countries to coordinate their preparations for further gas shocks, as Russia has already cut or reduced supplies to 12 of the bloc's 27 member states.

Europe has imported a record amount of LNG so far this year, 60% more than a year ago, helping to keep European prices at the Dutch TTF hub, the European gas benchmark,

The EU relied on Russia for as much as 40% of its gas needs before the war - rising to 55% for Germany - leaving a huge gap to fill in an already tight global gas market.

"Мы ожидаем, что в ближайшие годы спрос увеличится еще на 5% от допандемийного уровня до 4-5 млн баррелей в сутки. И свободных мощностей на рынке сейчас нет", - подчеркнул вице-премьер.

За год выросли цены на все энергоресурсы: на газ – в среднем в четыре раза, на нефть – на 80%, уголь подорожал более чем в два раза.

Non-sanctioning countries including India and China have significantly increased imports of Russian oil since the invasion began Feb. 24, taking advantage of major price discounts.

Crude imports rose 55% from a year ago to 8.42 million tons, with Russia overtaking Saudi Arabia as China’s main source of oil, according to customs data released on Monday.

Supply is likely to remain curbed with Gazprom PJSC’s chief Alexey Miller warning there’s no solution for now for issues with the gas turbines essential for the functioning of the pipeline.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman met Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a flagship conference that almost all Western officials and business executives are avoiding this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Как отметил вице-премьер, в настоящее время газовый рынок, хотя и находится под влиянием ряда факторов нестабильности, остаётся сбалансированным, в то время как нефтяной рынок переживает сложный период ребалансировки и активного перенаправления потоков.

In the worst-case scenario where the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany is shut totally, Europe will fail to reach storage levels the European Union has ordered by the start of the heating season in November. And the region could run out of stocks completely by January.

Eni SpA will receive just half of its requested gas volumes from Russia’s Gazprom PJSC on Friday, compared with about two-thirds the previous day.

The surge in electricity supply did little to ease rising prices that are being driven higher by climbing gas costs as Russia cuts some flows to Europe.

"We see that we have a fairly significant increase in June compared to May, up around 600,000 b/d," Novak said on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum,