Russian gas company Gazprom said on Monday (25th) that another Siemens turbine was out of service at the Portovaya compression station, and the gas supply of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline via Portovaya will be reduced to 3,300 per day from Wednesday (27th). 10,000 cubic meters, accounting for 20% of its production capacity, making the European energy crisis worse. European natural gas futures surged more than 10% on the news.
In a statement, Gazprom said it planned to stop the operation of a Taixi-1 turbine at its Portovaya compressor station from July 27, taking into account the technical conditions of the turbines. This means that starting at 7am Moscow time on July 27, Portovaya’s gas flow will drop to 33 million cubic meters per day.
At the time of writing, European natural gas prices surged 10.44% to 176.9 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on the news.
Western countries and Russia disagree on why the turbines that Canada has already shipped to Germany have not yet reached the Russian Creek. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday that Russia did not appear to have any intention of taking back the turbines sent for repair, saying cutting gas supplies was part of Putin’s strategy of “weaponizing energy”.
Russia, on the other hand, said on Friday that it was “nonsense” to deliberately delay receiving turbines, adding that all obstacles to gas supplies were caused by Western sanctions, including turbine repairs.
Gazprom said in a statement earlier today that it had received documents from Siemens AG issued by Canadian authorities, but Gazprom studied the documents and concluded that Siemens and Canada not only failed to address previously identified issues, but also added other issues.
Previously, the two sides had a dispute over the dispute over the arrival of the turbine in Germany. Now, there are technical problems with the turbine, which may make Europe’s energy crisis worse.
In addition, Gazprom believes that although the return of the turbines to Russia is a very important part of the entire Nord Stream 1 overhaul process, the EU and the United Kingdom have not yet lifted sanctions on it.
