MOSCOW (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Due to apparently needing repairs, Russia has completely stopped the gas supply to Europe through a major pipeline.
Gazprom, the Russian state-owned oil company, stated that there was a three day restriction on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Russia has already cut back considerably on gas exports by pipeline.
It has denied any claims of waging war on the West using energy resources as a weapon.
From the coast in Russia at St. Petersburg to Germany’s northeastern region, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline runs 1,200 km (745 miles) under the Baltic Sea.
The plant began operations in 2011 and has a daily maximum capacity of supplying 170 million cubic metres of gas from there to Germany.
Russia blamed the faulty equipment for the pipeline only being able to operate at 20% capacity. It was again closed for about 10 days in July, for repairs, Russia declared.
If Moscow resumes supply in the coming days, the country will be able to manage, said the president of Germany’s network regulator.
Klaus Mueller said that he assumed that they would be able to manage with it, while talking to Reuters. He believed that on Saturday, Russia would return to 20%, but no one could really predict.
However, Robert Habeck, German Economy Minister said in a statement to the Financial Times, that the action had already pushed several German businesses to stop operations, a development he called “alarming.”
It may indicate that the industries in question were suffering a rupture, a structural rupture that was taking place under great pressure, rather than just being reformed, Mr. Habeck said.
European leaders are worried this disruption may be prolonged with an intention to further increase the gas prices which have already seen a rather sharp hike in the previous year.
However, it was not expected that the announcement today would have an instant effect on prices. The main natural gas price in the UK has come down by over 15% on the markets, as of Wednesday at 14:00 BST.
The sharp increase in cost of living fuels the possibility of governments being forced to spend billions to reduce the pressure over the winter.
France’s energy transition minister, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, charged Russia on Tuesday with “using gas as a weapon of war.”
This happened after Gazprom announced it would discontinue gas supply to Engie, the energy company of France.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, however, denied the claim and argued that these outages were happening because of Western sanctions which were hurting their country’s infrastructure.
He asserted without elaborating, that technical challenges because of the sanctions were the sole reason for Russia to stop from supplying gas through the pipeline.
The most recent conflict was a turbine that was fixed in Canada before it was shipped to Germany. Moscow refused to take it back, claiming that the turbine was subject to Western sanctions.
Germany denied this though.Â
The pipeline was fully operating, said Economy Minister Habeck, who earlier this month denied any technical problems as alleged by Russia.
President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while speaking at a conference in Slovenia declared earlier this week that intervention in the energy markets was needed because they are “no longer fit for purpose.”
They needed a new electrical market structure that actually worked and restored equilibrium, she declared.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is €10 billion (£8.4 billion) and goes parallel to its namesake, was supported though not certified by Germany prior to the conflict but its construction was stopped after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Last week, the BBC revealed that at a plant close to the Finnish border, Russia has been burning off almost $10 million (£8.4 million) worth of gas every day.
