- Germany is turning to oil burners for additional energy amid Russia's natural gas cutoffs, Bloomberg reported Monday.
- Munich intends to burn more oil and coal moving forward, rather than natural gas, amid the energy crisis.
- For years Europe has moved away from burning fossil fuels for climate goals, but this marks a change of course.
Germany is ramping up efforts to stave off Russia's natural gas halts and diversify away from the key fuel by turning to oil and coal, Bloomberg reported Monday.
In Munich, local utility company Stadtwerke Muenchen revived oil burners at two plants that were previously shuttered, per the report. Additionally, it postponed plans to convert a power-generation block to gas from coal.
For years, European nations have shifted away from burning fossil fuels to better align with climate goals, but with Russia controlling gas flows, there's been a reversal ahead of looming winter months.
Germany has seen gas flows dwindle to 20% from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline thanks to Russia's retaliation against sanctions, and a recession has now become a possibility for the largest European economy.
According to Bloomberg, Germany's gas-storage facilities are 68.6% full, even though the country has a target of 95% by November 1. The government has called for citizens and companies to ease their gas consumption amid the energy crunch.
Meanwhile, European gas prices jumped Monday as Russia's Gazprom said it was cutting off natural gas flows to Latvia. The state-run energy giant said it would halt supplies due to a "violation of the conditions for gas withdrawal," though did not elaborate further.
Latvia is the latest European nation on the list of countries Moscow halted flows to, joining Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Denmark.
Bank of America analysts wrote in a research note to clients Monday that the European natural gas crisis is getting even worse: "The European gas situation is quickly moving from our 'bad' to our 'ugly' scenario in the past month," analysts wrote.