The Joe Biden administration is hard at work behind the scenes to keep European allies united against Russia amid cuts in Russian gas supplies that have sparked panic on both sides of the Atlantic over potentially severe gas shortages ahead of winter. It is reported by CNN with reference to US officials.

Earlier, Gazprom announced a reduction in gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany to 20% of its capacity due to the need to repair one of the turbines. The US official said the move was in response to Western sanctions and took the West into "uncharted territory" - whether Europe would have enough gas to survive the winter.

In response to the panic, the White House sent Amos Hochstein, the president's global energy coordinator, to Europe, officials said. He will travel to Paris and Brussels to discuss contingency plans with the US-EU energy task force set up in March, a month after the war began.

The US and Brussels are pleading with EU members to conserve gas to stock up for the winter, and on Tuesday EU energy ministers agreed in principle to cut gas consumption by 15% from August to March.

There will also be discussions in the coming days to increase European nuclear production to compensate for gas shortages, officials said. Germany planned to completely phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022, but US officials hope to convince Berlin to extend the life of the three remaining nuclear power plants amid the energy crisis, the official said.

US officials, who have been in close contact with their German and French counterparts on the matter, are extremely concerned that Europe could face severe gas shortages ahead of winter. This is because EU countries will struggle to replenish their reserves over the next few months as Nord Stream 1 provides only a fraction of its capacity.

Germany abandoned plans to build another Russia-Europe gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, while the US opposed the pipeline, warning that it would only increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas. But Germany argued that the pipeline was a purely commercial project and could serve as an energy bridge as the country phases out of nuclear power and coal.