MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia continued to pressure Europe on Monday, with Gazprom announcing that deliveries by the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany would fall to just 20% of capacity.
Gazprom said flows would stand at 33 million cubic meters per day from 0400 GMT on Wednesday after the Russian company had to shut down a Siemens gas turbine at a compressor station, on instructions from an industry watchdog.
Germany said it saw no technical reason for the latest cut, which comes amid economic sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Nord Stream 1 is the largest Russian gas link to Europe, with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year. The Dutch one-month gas contract, the European benchmark, rose 9.2% after the news.
Gazprom said on Monday it had received documents from Siemens Energy and Canada for a first turbine that needed repair, but problems remained.
“Gazprom has studied […] documents, but must recognize that they do not remove previously identified risks and raise additional questions,” she said in a statement.
“In addition, there are still open questions from Gazprom regarding EU and UK sanctions, the settlement of which is important for the delivery of the engine to Russia and the urgent overhaul of other gas turbines for Portovaya Compressor Station.”
(Reporting Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan; French version Augustin Turpin)
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