Russia cuts gas supply to Europe

Russia supplies gas to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline

Europe, Russia's biggest gas buyer, is racing to find alternatives to cope with reduced gas flows from Russia. Italy said it had been informed by Russia's Gazprom that it would receive only part of its request for gas supplies, pushing the country closer to declaring a state of alert. Germany announced its latest plan to increase gas storage levels and said it could restart coal-fired power plants that it had earlier planned to phase out. The energy crisis adds to the troubles for European policymakers, who are already worried about rising inflation in household energy bills and food prices.

Russia supplies gas to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main route for supplying Europe's biggest economy. It was still running at about 40% of capacity on Monday, even though it had edged up from the start of last week .Eni and German utility Uniper said they were receiving less than their contracted Russian gas volumes. Germany's economy ministry said that returning to coal-fired power plants could add up to 10 giga watts of capacity in case gas supply hit critical levels.