Hannover, July 19 (Interfax) - Germany's decision to phase out nuclear power means that the country will consume more gas, but it will not rely on Gazprom to supply the entire increase, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a session of the Russian-German St. Petersburg dialog in Hanover.
"We are not talking about an uncontrolled increase [in gas purchases], but a reasonable increase that Gazprom can supply us," Merkel said, adding that Germany’s plan for compensating declining output from nuclear power is not a move against Gazprom.
Germany will also rely on a doubling of renewable energy production and rising energy efficiency, she said.
"The gas volumes we need are growing by leaps and bounds," Merkel said. Germany has 80,000 megawatts of capacity, including 20,000 MW of nuclear power, of which 8,500 MW are currently out of service. Thus, roughly 11,000 MW of nuclear power remain.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that Gazprom would supply "30%-35% more gas to Germany, which is also pretty good."
With 33 trillion cubic meters in explored reserves, Russia is ready to fully cover the natural gas needs of Germany and all of Europe, he said. "We have long-term contracts with European countries, including Germany, to 2030 and 2035. We can simply amend the volumes. We can provide all the volumes for the German economy, via Nord Stream and Yamal-Europe," Zubkov said.
"Have no doubt: there is enough gas," President Dmitry Medvedev said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently spoke of building a third line of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which runs from Russian to German under the Baltic Sea.
