‘Gas blackmail’: how Putin’s weaponised energy supplies are hurting Europe

Despite EU leaders agreeing a partial embargo on Russian oil, any outright ban on its gas appears unlikely. Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

One question is dominating the energy industry: will Vladimir Putin turn the tap back on? This week the Kremlin-controlled energy firm Gazprom shut off gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance until 21 July, having already cut its output to less than 40% of capacity. Now there are growing concerns that the Russian president may simply refuse to reactivate it.

This week energy executives at the Aurora consultancy’s conference in Oxford were asked to vote on whether the supplies would return. A forest of confident arms shot up for “yes”, a similar amount for “no”. Only Putin knows the answer.