by Steve Scherer and Tom Kckenhoff
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will grant a sanctions waiver to return to Germany repaired Russian turbines needed for maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, Canada’s natural resources minister said on Saturday.
The Canadian government said its decision to issue the “revocable, time-limited permit” would support “Europe’s ability to access reliable and affordable energy as it emerges from its dependence on Russian gas and oil.” .
Canada has also announced that it will extend sanctions against Russia’s energy sector to include industrial manufacturing activities.
Russian giant Gazprom has reduced the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which links Russia to Europe, to just 40% of its usual levels, citing the delay in the delivery of equipment repaired by the German company Siemens Energy to Canada.
In a statement, Siemens Energy said it was working to get the turbine to the Nord Stream pipeline as quickly as possible.
Canada has estimated that “without a necessary supply of natural gas, the German economy will suffer very serious difficulties and the Germans themselves risk being unable to heat their homes as winter approaches”.
The German government welcomes “the decision of (its) Canadian friends and allies,” said a spokesman.
The Ukrainian Ministers of Energy and Foreign Affairs declared that this decision, which they ask for the cancellation, amounted to adapt the sanctions imposed on Moscow “to the whims of Russia”.
The Kremlin announced on Friday that it would increase gas deliveries to Europe if the turbines were returned.
(Report Steve Scherer Ottawa and David Shepardson Washington; with Thomas Escritt Berlin; French version Camille Raynaud and Laetitia Volga)