The move came hours after G7 countries agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in a bid to stem the flow of capital to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Gazprom, the state-owned oil and gas company, said supplies would remain suspended indefinitely after the leak was detected. He said the pipeline will not restart until repairs are fully implemented. Nord Stream 1 is the single largest natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe and has the capacity to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year. Continuous supplies through the pipeline are seen as vital to prevent a deepening of the energy crisis. In a statement on Telegram, Gazprom said: “Gas transportation on the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been completely stopped until complaints about the operation of the equipment are eliminated.” It said in the social media post that it had identified “malfunctions” at a key turbine along the pipeline, which carries natural gas from western Russia to Germany, and that the pipeline would not operate unless they were fixed. supply routes Early on Wednesday, Gazprom completely cut off the flow of natural gas through Nord Stream 1, according to an earlier announcement, adding that the outage would last three days. The streams were due to resume shortly after midnight on Saturday morning. The company said work was needed on the only remaining operational turbine at the Portovaya compressor station at the Russian end of the pipeline, but German officials disputed that explanation. The timing of the move will raise questions about whether Putin was responding to the impending imposition of a cap on Russian oil. The finance ministers of the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada agreed on Friday to a plan to cap Russian oil prices. The proposal means importers seeking shipping services and insurance cover from companies based in G7 and EU countries will have to adhere to a price cap for transporting Russian oil. It is likely to be introduced from December. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s regime has been accused of stockpiling natural gas by cutting supplies to Europe, pushing prices higher and threatening blackouts. Gazprom officials have already indicated that they will blame the sanctions for the disruption of gas deliveries to Europe. In statements earlier this week, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that manufacturer Siemens could not carry out repairs to the turbines used in Nord Stream 1 because of sanctions against the Russian state energy company. The outage will raise concerns that Europe, and Germany in particular, will be forced to significantly curtail electricity use for households and businesses this year. Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. European countries have rushed to fill gas storage facilities in case Russia cuts off gas supplies completely this winter. Germany’s warehouses are now over 84% full. The head of Germany’s grid regulator, Klaus Mueller, tweeted that Russia’s decision to keep Nord Stream 1 off for now increases the importance of new liquefied natural gas terminals that Germany plans to start operating this winter. , gas storage and “important gas saving needs. The European Commission’s chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, said: “Gazprom’s announcement this afternoon that it is once again shutting down Nord Stream 1 under false pretenses is yet another confirmation of its unreliability as a supplier.” Jacob Mandel, senior partner for commodities at energy consultancy Aurora, said the disruption of flows through Nord Stream 1 “does not significantly change the outlook for European imports of Russian natural gas in recent weeks.” Mandel said Nord Stream 1 was delivering about 30 million cubic meters per day, or 20% of its 55 bcm capacity, before the latest shutdown. He said this equated to only about 3.7 billion cubic meters for the rest of this year, or more than 18 billion cubic meters if it were to operate at full capacity. That represents just 4% of Germany’s annual demand and less than 1% of Europe’s annual demand, he said. Mandel added: “So supply is hard to come by and it’s getting harder and harder to replace every bit of natural gas that doesn’t come from Russia. “Europe’s storages are on track to meet or even exceed their targets for this summer, and there is plenty of room to replace that gas with LNG imports for now, but when the weather is cold and demand starts to pick up in the winter in Europe and Asia, there’s only so much LNG out there that Europe can import to replace Russian gas.”
