The Russian gas company Gazprom further cuts supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. From this Wednesday onwards, 20 percent or 33 million cubic meters of gas would flow through the most important supply line to Germany every day, the company announced on Monday. The reason was the repair of another turbine, it said.
As of Wednesday, only 20 percent of the maximum possible capacity will flow through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. Gazprom announced this on Monday. This corresponds to a volume of 33 million cubic meters of gas per day.
After a turbine was repaired, gas had been flowing through the pipeline again since Thursday last week. As before the repair, 40 percent of the maximum possible capacity per day was delivered. The reason for the renewed reduction in capacity is said to be the repair of another turbine.
Shortly thereafter, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced that there was “no technical reason” for reducing the gas supply volume via Nord Stream 1. This contradicts the representations of Russia.
The announcement caused the price of natural gas to rise significantly. On Monday, the futures contract TTF, which is regarded as trend-setting, rose to 175 euros per megawatt hour on the energy exchange in the Netherlands. That is an increase of 7.7 percent compared to Friday.
Moscow had reduced deliveries via Nord Stream 1 to 40 percent in June, citing the missing turbine, which was repaired in Canada but then initially not returned to Russia because of the sanctions. At the request of Berlin, Ottawa then handed over the machine to Germany. The German federal government wants to take away from the Kremlin an excuse for supply cuts.
However, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin recently threatened new cuts, citing the need to repair more turbines. According to this, a throttling is possible if a turbine repaired in Canada is not available again in time. Another turbine should therefore be sent out for repairs around July 26th. He then put those threats into action.
Gazprom had previously expressed risks for its installation in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, despite the documents accompanying the turbine returned from Canada. “Gazprom has studied the relevant documents, but has to state that they do not solve the aforementioned risks and raise additional questions,” the company announced on its Telegram channel on Monday.
Gazprom demanded that the turbine be removed from the scope of Canadian sanctions. This must also be documented, otherwise the operation represents a significant risk of sanctions, the company said. In addition, questions remain about the sanctions from the EU and Great Britain, which are important for the delivery of this turbine and the repair of other units of the Baltic Sea pipeline.