Towards the worsening of the energy crisis in Europe? The Russian energy giant Gazprom announced this evening that it will not resume the flow of gas in Nord Stream 1 tomorrow as planned – since it detected a leak in its compressor in Portovaya. The pipeline, which connects the Baltic Sea to Germany, was shut down last Wednesday for maintenance.
The Russian company did not give a new forecast for the resumption of gas flow: “Flow in Nord Stream 1 has been completely stopped – until the problem is resolved.”
Nord Stream 1 is responsible for the flow of about 35% of Russian gas to Europe.
Russia’s announcement comes a few hours after the finance ministers of the industrialized countries (G7) announced that they would work to establish a ceiling price for Russian oil.
Since June, Gazprom has cut the supply of gas to Europe through Nord Stream 1 to only 20% of its capacity, for technical reasons, and against the background of the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. Russia also cut gas supplies to “unfriendly” countries in Europe amid their refusal to pay for it in rubles.
Earlier this week, Gazprom announced that it would freeze deliveries to the French energy company Engie, claiming that it had not received the full payment for the month of July.
In July, the German government was forced to give Unifer – its largest importer of Russian gas, and the main victim of the tensions between the countries – an aid package of 15 billion euros after Russia stopped supplying it with gas, and it had to purchase it from more expensive sources.
In view of the reduction in supplies from Russia, an agreement signed at the end of July by 27 European Union countries to reduce consumption entered into force this month. According to the agreement, each country “will do everything to reduce, between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, gas consumption by at least 15% compared to the average of the last five years during that period, through ‘voluntary reduction measures’.” In the event of a “risk of serious shortage”, the European Council may declare a state of alert and make the reduction mandatory. At the same time, this goal will be adapted to the reality of each country and its abilities to export the gas it has saved to countries that need it
The energy crisis is one of the reasons for the jump in the inflation rate in the Eurozone – which stands at 9.1%, a 25-year high.