Russia claimed that gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe were still at risk. Only one turbine was operating, which deepens European concerns about Europe’s inability to obtain enough fuel for winter.
Nord Stream 1, which runs beneath the Baltic Sea to supply Germany, was operating at 20% capacity before flows were halted for three consecutive days this week. Deliveries will resume Saturday at 0100 GMT.
Moscow accuses the West of imposing sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine. This has hampered routine operations and maintained Nord Stream 1. Brussels claims this is a pretext, and Russia is using gas to retaliate.
Sources familiar with Gazprom’s plans stated that the state-controlled firm would resume Nord Stream 1 deliveries as planned, though European nations remain cautious about Russian intentions.
Ursula von der Leyen, chief of the European Union Commission, said that the bloc should place a price limit on Russian pipeline gas in order to stop what she called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts at manipulating the market.
Gas prices have soared, hurting European industry as well as households. They rose first because of recovering demand following the pandemic, then they rose further due to the Ukraine crisis.
Von der Leyen stated that “the electricity market is not working anymore because it’s massively disrupted by Putin’s manipulations.” He also suggested that a European gas price cap for Russian pipeline supplies might be considered.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, stated that Moscow would cut off supplies to Europe if Brussels placed such a limit.
European states have been left with limited supplies via Nord Stream and lower gas flows via Ukraine. This has made it difficult for them to replenish their winter storage tanks. Many of these countries have also had to make emergency plans to avoid energy rationing.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, added to Friday’s concerns that Nord Stream 1 could experience more disruptions in deliveries.
Gazprom is not responsible for the lack of resources. When asked if there could be more outages, he replied that the reliability of the entire system was at risk.
Operator data, also known as nominations on requests for Russian gas via the pipeline suggested that flows should resume Saturday. However, the request levels were much lower than those seen prior to the most recent maintenance when the pipeline was at 20% capacity.
The spokesperson for the German economy ministry said that data should be considered cautiously. The spokesperson stated that things will become more clear over Saturday morning. However, it was impossible to closely monitor the situation.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller stated Wednesday that sanctions meant that Siemens Energy, a supplier of pipeline equipment, couldn’t perform regular maintenance.
Siemens Energy, which is normally involved in Nord Stream 1 turbine maintenance, stated that it was not involved with Gazprom’s current maintenance work. It also stated that it is available to assist if necessary and that maintenance was exempted from sanctions.
After Gazprom’s June and July reductions, EU governments had been anticipating Russia’s possible withdrawal of all deliveries. The announcement of the maintenance halt for this week was made at short notice.
Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian supplies in the past has raced to build permanent LNG facilities before installing temporary liquefied gas terminals (LNG) to ship in gas.
Germany’s storage tanks have nearly filled up to 85% and are on track for meeting their Oct. 1 targets earlier than expected. Berlin claims that it would be difficult to reach its Nov. 1 target of 95% if households and companies used less fuel.
The EU has exceeded its storage target of 80% by October 1, ready for heating demand.
Some European energy-intensive companies like fertiliser and aluminium manufacturers have already reduced their output because of sky-high power costs. However, some European household consumers have cut down on usage to offset rising energy bills.
