Russia has blamed the cut through the pipeline on technical problems, but Germany has called the shutdown a political move by the Kremlin.
Russia has blamed the cut through the pipeline on technical problems, but Germany has called the shutdown a political move by the Kremlin.
a Major Russian natural gas pipeline It will shut down for three days of maintenance later this month, state-owned energy company Gazprom announced on 19 August in a move to increase economic pressure on Germany and other European countries that rely on fuel for the power industry, electricity. generate and heat homes.
The latest shutdown would come a month after Gazprom restored natural gas supply through the pipeline, which was only one-fifth of its capacity after the last shutoff, for maintenance.
Russia has blamed the cuts through the pipeline on technical problems, but Germany has called the shutdown a political move by the Kremlin to sow uncertainty amid the conflict in Ukraine and drive up prices.
In a statement posted online, Gazprom said the planned shutdown from August 31 to September 2 is for “routine maintenance” at a major compressor station along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which connects western Russia and Germany.
Natural gas prices have risen as Russia has reduced or cut off the flow of natural gas to a dozen EU countries, raising inflation and increasing the risk that Europe could fall into recession.
Germany’s economy ministry said in an email The Associated Press that it had noticed Gazprom’s planned downtime for Nord Stream 1.
“We are monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the Federal Network Agency” that regulates gas markets, the ministry said. “Gas flow through Nord Stream 1 is currently unchanged at 20%.”
The newly announced maintenance shutoff raises additional fears that Russia may cut off the gas altogether to try to wield a political advantage over Europe as it tries to boost its storage levels for the winter.
Germany recently announced that its gas storage facilities had reached 75% capacity two weeks before the target date of 1 September. The Germans have now been urged to cut back on gas use so that the country has enough for the winter ahead.
Gazprom said that once the work is completed, gas flow through Nord Stream 1 will resume to its former level of 33 million cubic meters, or just 20% of the pipeline’s capacity.
Routine maintenance will be carried out jointly with Siemens experts, Gazprom said with reference to its German partner, Siemens Energy.