Nord Stream gas deliveries temporarily reduced due to repair works, says Russia

Amid a spike in gas prices in wake of Moscow-Kyiv war, cxRussia on Thursday clarified that deliveries via the Nord Stream gas pipeline have been temporarily reduced due to technological maintenance, stressing that Moscow has "no hidden agenda". Russian Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, "If a turbine needs to be serviced, it needs to be returned after repair works, and it is not (given back). Maybe, the fact that the turbine is not given back, is indeed, not entirely a technological (reason)," Tass reported. "Everything is very obvious, there is no hidden agenda here," he added.  

Peskov also emphasised that Russia strictly adheres to all of its pledges to provide energy to Europe. He went on to say that Russia maintains its reputation in this domain with due care as a reasonably dependable and established provider of energy supplies to Europe over decades.  

The Kremlin spokesperson even highlighted, "Certain process cycles exist for infrastructure maintenance and operation; it is better to receive information on such cycles directly from Gazprom," Tass reported. He stressed that Russia has been and remains the "fairly reliable supplier of energy resources to Europe". 

Gazprom curtailed gas supply through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany

Earlier in June, Russian energy giant Gazprom curtailed gas supply through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline to Germany due to technical engine problems and delays in Siemens' repair work, a Munich-based automation business. It is worth noting that Nord Stream 1 is Germany's main pipeline for receiving Russian gas. Physical gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which delivers gas from Russia by way of Poland to Germany, has been stopped again. Additionally, the prolonged conflict has had a significant impact on Russian gas transit via Ukraine. 

Siemens had delayed returning a gas compressor unit from maintenance. As a consequence, as compared to the planned 167 million cubic metres, only up to 100 million cubic metres of gas might currently be pushed through the pipeline each day, citing the firm, TASS news agency reported.  The business further added that just three units can now be utilised for pumping at the compressor station in Portovaya. It was previously stated on the CEGH REMIT platform that the available capacity for pumping gas through Nord Stream will be reduced from June 3 to June 17 due to planned routine pipeline inspections. 

In addition, earlier in June, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, disclosed that nations who refused to pay for gas supplies under the new terms had their supplies cut off. Peskov informed the media on June 9 that Russia has no plans to halt gas shipments, according to a TASS report. He said that the new system, which is regulated by Russian President Putin's decree, is applicable to countries that continue to get gas from Russia. 

(Image: AP)