Use the weapon of gas to maintain the war of nerves. Five days after having partially reopened the Nord Stream tap, which had been cut off for ten days for maintenance, Moscow will again almost close it: from Wednesday July 27, only 33 million cubic meters of gas will circulate in this pipeline connecting Russia to Germany via the Baltic, the Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Monday. This volume represents only 20% of Nord Stream’s capacity.
This decision is only a half-surprise. A few days ago, Vladimir Putin warned that if Russia did not recover a turbine sent to Canada for repair but which has still not been delivered to it because of the sanctions that have been aimed at it since the war in Ukraine, the gas pipeline will not would operate at more than a fifth of its capacity. Mid-June, already, Moscow had invoked the same reason to justify a first tightening of screws: since that date, with the exception of the ten days of total cut-off linked to its maintenance, Nord Stream was already no longer transporting to Germany than 40% of the gas that previously circulated through its pipes.
Berlin’s reaction was quick. “According to our information, there is no technical reason to reduce deliveries”, the German economy ministry said within an hour of Gazprom’s decision. The Siemens Energy group, in charge of the maintenance of the turbine, also assured not to see “no link between the turbine and the gas reductions implemented or announced”.
The news caused an immediate rise in the price of a megawatt hour of natural gas. Monday afternoon, it went from 168 to 179 euros on the Dutch TTF market, which serves as a benchmark in Europe. In July 2021, its price was 40 euros, almost five times less than today.
The “turbine saga”
If it is only a pretext used by Moscow to justify the reduction in the quantities of gas transported by Nord Stream, the “turbine saga”as it was named Of the Spiegelis nonetheless formidably effective, judging by the climate of uncertainty it maintains in the European countries that are most dependent on Russian gas.
This is particularly the case of Germany. Even if, since June, gas imported from Russia has only represented 26% of all of its gas supplies, compared to 55% before the war in Ukraine, Gazprom’s decision is cause for serious concern across the Rhine. Already a few days ago, the Federal Network Agency warned that the targets set by the new law on gas storage, which requires that the country’s reserves be filled to 75% by 1is September and 90% on 1is November, would be difficult to achieve if Nord Stream is only running at 40% of its capacity. That was before Gazprom announced on Monday that deliveries would be further halved.
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