On Monday, the gas price rose about 12%. That increase was caused by Gazprom’s announcement Friday evening that the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany will close for three days at the end of this month. According to the Russian state gas company, this is necessary for maintenance.
Pinch off
The news, however, fueled the gas market’s fears that Gazprom will seize the shutdown to throttle its gas supply to Germany even further, making it more difficult to fill European gas storage facilities sufficiently for next winter. The German storage facilities are now more than 80 percent full.
Earlier this summer, Nord Stream closed for ten days due to scheduled maintenance. When gas flow was restored, Germany received less Russian gas than before the shutdown. Gazprom has gradually reduced gas supplies to Germany to a fifth of normal capacity.
pressure medium
The gas company states that this is necessary because of overdue maintenance and a gas turbine that is missing due to sanctions. Germany accuses Russia of using the gas supplies as a means of pressure towards the West. Western countries imposed a hefty package of sanctions on Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine and also provide Ukraine with weapons to fight the Russians.