As EU states struggled on Wednesday to agree on a gas price cap to lessen its impact on consumers, Russia's president claimed that Europe was to blame for its energy crisis because of policies that deprived the industry of investment.


When a leak on the Druzhba pipeline from Russia reduced the flow of oil to Germany in Poland, concerns over the security of energy supplies increased.

The European Union countries are trying to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian energy in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February, and Poland said the leak was likely the result of an accident.

Following a leak last month that both Russia and the West blamed on sabotage without identifying the perpetrators, the Nord Stream gas link to Germany is currently inoperable.

In order to deny people access to affordable energy, President Vladimir Putin claimed that leaks in the two Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea were a "act of international terrorism."

Kadri Simson, the EU's energy commissioner, said prices were unacceptably high but that a cap on gas prices had not yet been agreed upon after a meeting of EU energy ministers in Prague.

Putin claimed that one intact section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could still supply gas, but it was up to the EU to decide whether or not it desired the gas.

A German government spokesperson on Wednesday disqualified Germany from obtaining gas through that route after Germany halted the Nord Stream 2 project days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.

Putin also suggested using Turkey to establish a different European gas hub.

Putin stated at an energy conference in Russia, "We could move the lost volumes along the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey."

Putin claimed that the EU's push for green energy was to blame for the sky-high energy prices in Europe and claimed that this resulted in underinvestment in the global oil and gas sector.

The G7 nations are debating a cap on Russian oil prices, a proposal that Putin claimed would exacerbate the situation.

The 27-nation EU has felt the effects of efforts to use less Russian energy as well as significant reductions in supplies from Russia, with gas prices nearly 90% higher than a year ago and worries of rationing and power outages over the upcoming winter.

PRAGUE TALKS


A package of fresh ideas to address the crisis, approved by EU energy ministers on Wednesday, will be presented to the EU Commission the following week.

These included creating a different benchmark for gas prices, taking additional measures to cut demand, and encouraging group buying. But finding consensus on a gas price cap proved difficult.

If the situation has reached the point where we can say that a majority of member states support the proposal, Simson said, "we will see over the weekend how we can proceed with capping the gas for power generation."

While the majority of EU nations claim to want a gas price cap, they disagree on its specifics. Germany, Europe's largest gas market, is one of the nations that has beenopposed, claiming it runs the risk of stifling supplies.

A leak in a portion of the Druzhba oil pipe was discovered on Tuesday evening, according to pipeline operator PERN in neighboring Poland, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the city of Plock in the country's center.

One of the world's largest oil pipelines, the Druzhba, which in Russian means "friendship," transports Russian oil to much of central Europe.

Mateusz Berger, Poland's top official in charge of energy infrastructure, told Reuters over the phone, "Here we can talk about accidental damage."

90% of Berlin's fuel comes from the PCK Refinery in Schwedt, Germany, which said it continued to receive oil deliveries from the Druzhba pipeline but at a reduced rate.

SUPPORT MEASURES


Because businesses have passed on increased costs, the energy crisis has had an impact on households throughout all of Europe.

Governments are also attempting to determine how to pay for urgent actions taken to safeguard consumers and reduce the distortions brought on by the price increase.

Portugal, an EU member, plans to inject 3 billion euros ($2.9 billion) into its electricity and natural gas systems to reduce the prices paid by businesses in 2019.

The industry referred to the British government's temporary revenue cap on low-carbon electricity generators as a "de facto windfall tax" on renewable energy producers.

Additional reporting was done in Brussels by Kate Abnett and Marine Strauss, Warsaw by Alan Charlish, London by Susanna Twidale, London by Muvija M and Nina Chestney, and Prague by Jason Hovet. Keith Weir wrote the piece; Mark Potter and Emelia Sithole-Matarise edited it.