German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, right, speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Andra, the commander of the multi-national NATO Enhanced Forward Presence battalion in Lithuania during a visit to the Rukla military base some 100 kms west of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, March 3, 2022. Germany is sending additional troops to Lithuania in response to Russia's military build-up on the border with Ukraine and the worsening security situation in the Baltic states.
From the heads of leading chemical and steel companies to the makers of gummy bears, business leaders have warned that without a steady supply of gas, oil and coal, their production would grind to a halt.Nearly half of all German homes are heated with natural gas, which is also used to generate power including in heavy industry.
The country’s makers of chocolates, snacks and sweets have also warned that gas shortages would spell doom for their ability to produce the high-energy food. In addition to supplying a vast amount of gas, Russia owns and operates thousands of miles of pipeline and several key storage tanks in Germany through subsidiaries of its state-owned energy conglomerate, Gazprom. Among them is Astora, which owns the largest underground storage tank for natural gas in Western Europe.