By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Europe's largest economy braced for a cut-off of Russian gas supplies on Wednesday, activating the first phase of a national emergency plan.
The move comes two days ahead of a deadline set by Russia for 'unfriendly' states to start paying for deliveries of Russian energy in rubles, rather than in euros or dollars. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who chaired a G7 meeting of energy ministers on Monday which unanimously refused to go along with Russia's demands, said that the measures were a first, preliminary step which he called the "Early Warning" stage. Two further stages, which could ultimately include the rationing of supplies to industry, are styled as "Alarm" and "Emergency."
Any reduction of industrial gas supplies would have an immediate impact on Europe's largest economy. Michael Vassiliadis, a board member at Germany's largest chemicals company BASF, had said on Tuesday that even a 50% reduction in supplies would force it to stop production at Ludwigshafen, Europe's biggest chemicals complex.