It should come as no surprise that on Monday, Russia’s state-owned gas supplier, Gazprom, said it will cut supplies to Germany from its Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 50%, in retaliation for western sanctions, according to a US official. 

It puts Europe in a dangerous situation, cutting gas supplies for the coming winter.

In response to the chaos, the Biden administration sent a global energy coordinator, Amos Hochstein, to Europe, where he will travel to Paris and Brussels to discuss the energy needs of EU countries. 

The shortages in Europe are sure to affect the US, by raising gas and electricity prices here. 

EU members will be forced to cut fuel use, and start saving for winter. There are also discussions about increasing nuclear power production in Europe. Although Germany had previously decided to phase out its nuclear power use by the end of this year, they are being encouraged to continue using their three remaining nuclear power plants as the crisis continues. 

Officials are afraid that a 15% cut in consumption, even with the help of US natural gas exports to Europe, will not be enough to get Europe through the winter.