Euro tumbles as Russia shuts off gas supply
(Update 1: Adds OPEC detail.)
Frankfurt, Germany, Sep 5 (EFE).- The euro on Monday tumbled to its lowest value in almost 20 years against the dollar amid a deepening energy crisis after Russia shut off its gas supply to the block.
The euro was trading at $0.9911 at around 9:30 GMT but dropped as low as $0.9879 earlier Monday.
The energy crisis in Europe as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been dragging the euro down for months amid warnings from experts that the bloc could enter a recession.
The Kremlin on Monday rejected attempts to lay the blame on Russia over the indefinite closure of gas supplies to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline and said Western sanctions had disrupted operations.
On Friday, state-controlled Gazprom said the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Germany’s main gas pipeline, would remain closed indefinitely.
According to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, an oil leak was found in a turbine of the only compressor station that was still operational, something that the European Union has said is false and only further proves that Moscow is not a reliable energy supplier.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said: “It is the fault of those politicians who made decisions on sanctions.
“If the Europeans absolutely absurdly make a decision to refuse to service their equipment, or rather, equipment that belongs to Gazprom, but which they are contractually required to service, this is not Gazprom’s fault,” Peskov added, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that Moscow could suspend supplies of oil to states that cap oil prices.
“Interference in the market mechanisms of such an important industry as the oil industry, which is the most important in terms of ensuring the energy security of the whole world, such attempts will only destabilize the oil industry, the oil market,” Novak said.
The world’s top oil producing nations, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed at an OPEC+ meeting Monday to reduce their output of oil by 100,000 per day due to price concerns, reversing a decision taken in August.EFE
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