Dhe Russian gas company Gazprom is further reducing deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline. From July 27 (Wednesday) at 6 a.m., 20 percent or 33 million cubic meters of gas would flow through the most important supply pipeline to Germany every day, the company announced on Monday. The reason was the repair of another turbine, it said.
The announcement of lower deliveries by Russia alone caused the price of natural gas in Europe to rise significantly. On Monday, the futures contract TTF, which is regarded as trend-setting, rose to 175 euros per megawatt hour on the energy exchange in the Netherlands. That is an increase of 7.7 percent compared to Friday.
Berlin: Reason is advanced
The federal government considers the specified maintenance of another turbine to be advanced. “According to our information, there is no technical reason for a reduction in deliveries,” said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs for Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). The statement repeatedly made by the Russian side that there are still open questions in connection with the turbine and the sanctions was contradicted in Berlin. “The approval requirements under sanctions law for the delivery of the turbine in question are in place,” said the spokeswoman.
Siemens Energy, manufacturer of the turbine, assigned responsibility for the transport, which has not yet begun, to Russia. For the export of the turbine repaired in Canada, information from the Gazprom group is missing. “The transport of the turbine is prepared and could start immediately,” said a company spokesman. All documents for the export to Russia have been available since the beginning of last week. “What is missing, however, are the necessary customs documents for importing to Russia. This information can only be provided by the customer.” The customer here is Gazprom.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last week that there could be a further cut in gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline around July 26. He had referred to turbines used by the Russian energy company. According to this, a throttling is possible if a turbine repaired in Canada is not available again in time. Another turbine should therefore be sent around July 26 for repairs.
Gas deliveries via the currently most important connection to Germany for Russian natural gas were only resumed on Thursday after a ten-day routine maintenance. As early as June, Gazprom had reduced deliveries via the pipeline to 40 percent of maximum capacity and referred to the turbine being sent to Canada for repairs. The federal government considers this to be a pretext. German government officials warned, however, after the maintenance work had been completed in the meantime, that it could not be assumed with certainty that the Kremlin would continue to pump gas through the pipeline to Germany.