Russia’s state-owned company, Gazprom, said via their Twitter account on Monday that the state was planning to cut down its daily gas supply to Europe via Nord Stream 1, citing the need for equipment repair.
The Russian gas giant tweeted that they were planning to reduce the daily throughput via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 33 Million Cubic Meters by Wednesday, bringing the daily supply down to about 20% of its total capacity. The reduction was confirmed by the head of Germany’s network regulator.
“The halving of the nomination of Nord Stream 1 was announced for the day after tomorrow,” tweeted Klaus Mueller on Monday.
The decision comes after Gazprom raised questions earlier on Monday about returning a part that has been at the centre of tensions over natural gas deliveries through the pipeline, stating that the company isn’t satisfied with the documents it has received.
Earlier, the company had reduced gas supply via the pipeline by 60% in mid-June, citing alleged technical issues involving the equipment that partner Siemens Energy had sent to Canada for overhaul. The concerned authorities subsequently could not return the equipment because of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Later, Canada allowed the turbine for a compressor station at the pipeline’s Russian end to be delivered to Germany. That is where the German government said it was last week.
Nord Stream 1 is one of the most significant gas pipelines connecting Europe with Russia. Nord Stream 1 begins north of Saint Petersburg in Russia and ends at a station near Greifswald on Germany’s northern Baltic Sea coast. The pipeline can export over 160 cubic meters of gas at its total capacity. The recent cut in gas supply puts the daily gas output at 20% of the total capacity.
Germany has rejected the Russian gas giant Gazprom’s explanation for the reduction in s gas supply, insisting that it was just a pretext for the Kremlin’s political decision to sow uncertainty and further push energy prices.
“Moscow is not shying away from using deliveries of grain and energy as a weapon. We have to be more resolute in protecting ourselves,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the reporters last week.
According to Germany, the turbine was a replacement that was only supposed to be installed in September.
On Monday, in a statement via its Twitter account, Gazprom said that it had received documents for the turbine issued by Canadian authorities. However, after studying them, they concluded that they do not eliminate the previously identified risks and raise many additional questions.”
The German government said last week that the reduction in gas flows made it clear that the country can’t rely on Russian deliveries, announcing that it would step up its gas storage requirements and take further measures to save gas.
