German fuel crisis will become something like 'Lehman Crisis', warns Germ

Berlin: Last week, Russia reduced the fuel supply to some leading European countries. Taking the Russian aggression into account, Germany declared an Alarm Stage in the fuel sector. German Commerce Minister Robert Habeck warned that if the situation does not improve soon or if Russia stops fuel supplies, the resulting fuel crisis will be like the ‘Lehman Crisis’. Repercussions of this will be felt around the globe.

In 2008, US financial institution Lehman Brothers went bankrupt due to the Sub Prime crisis. All the financial institutions and banks affiliated with Lehman Brothers were hit. This created an economic crisis in the world, including the United States and Europe. This crisis is known as the Lehman Crisis. All the countries in the world had been hit. In this scenario, the German commerce minister’s mention of the Lehman Crisis becomes noteworthy.

Moreover, the reserve gas stocks in Germany stand at around 58%. Despite this, the German government has expressed its inability to take these stocks to 90% before the start of winter. Therefore, the German government has declared a level 2 alarm stage crisis in the fuel sector. But the commerce minister warned if the fuel crisis continues, the fuel supply chain in the country will collapse. The fuel sector will be hit by something like a Lehman crisis.

Furthermore, Habeck warned while speaking to a local magazine that all the German industries dependent on fuel would come to a grinding halt in this situation. The crisis will not be for days or weeks. The intensity of the crisis could continue for a long time. Meanwhile, Germany has made preparations to nationalise the part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the German territory. A German magazine made this claim quoting sources.

Like Germany, the fuel crisis is intensifying even in the other European countries. International Energy Agency chief warned a few days ago that Russia could stop fuel supply to the European countries, forwarding the reason of sanctions or something else.