Norway and the EU have signed an agreement to increase natural gas supplies to EU member states, reports Reuters.

This comes in the wake of Russia reducing supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which Russia claims is due to repair work.

”There is strong potential for increased sales to Europe in 2022, bringing close to 100 TWh of extra energy to the European market,” say EU Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans and Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland in a joint statement, as reported by Reuters.

Norway has already dialed up gas production in response to shortages around Europe, expecting that sales will increase by 8% to 122 billion cubic meters this year. This corresponds to an additional 100TWh – with Reuters considering it likely that all of the additional gas supplies are expected to flow into the EU..

The EU imports approximately one fifth of its gas from Norway.

The agreement between the EU and Norway comes on the same day as Germany triggered phase two of its emergency level for gas – also known as ’alert’ – due to high prices and reduced gas supplies from Russia.

For phase two, it is estimated that the market is still capable of handling the domestic supply shortages. There is no need for government action, such as a stop to gas for select companies. However, this could happen in phase three.

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