The Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany restarted on Thursday July 21, but the gas giant announced a reduction in deliveries on Monday.
The Russian gas giant announced Monday that it would drastically reduce from Wednesday, to 33 million m3 daily, deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, arguing the need for maintenance of a turbine. “The productive capacity of the Portovaïa compressor station will increase to 33 million m3 on July 27 at 07:00(04:00 GMT), indicated Gazprom on its Telegram account, or about 20% of the gas pipeline’s capacity against about 40% currently.
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Russia had already cut the volume of its deliveries twice in June, saying that the gas pipeline could not function normally without a turbine which was being repaired in Canada and which had not returned to Russia because of the sanctions imposed by the Westerners following the Russian assault on Ukraine. Since then, Germany and Canada have agreed to bring the equipment back to Russia, but the turbine has not yet been delivered. For Berlin, this is a decision “Politics” and a “pretextto weigh on Westerners in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
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Westerners accuse Moscow of using energy weapon in retaliation
Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned that if his country did not receive the missing turbine, the gas pipeline would operate at 20% of its capacity this week due to the upcoming maintenance of a second turbine. The Nord Stream gas pipeline, with a capacity according to Gazprom of 167 million m3 daily, links Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. The tube is strategic for gas supplies to Europeans, who are highly dependent on Russian energy resources. Westerners accuse Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for the sanctions adopted after the offensive against Ukraine.
The Kremlin says that the sanctions are at the origin of technical problems on the gas infrastructure and that Europe therefore suffers from the measures that it imposes on Russia. In addition, in a previous press release from Gazprom on Monday, the gas group had indicated that the delivery of the first turbine at the heart of the dispute was blocked, arguing “problems (due to) EU and UK sanctions“. “Their resolution is important to allow the delivery to Russia of the engine and to carry out the full and urgent repairs of other gas turbine engines for the Portovaya compressor stationhe added.
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