Gazprom blames this on maintenance of a turbine needed to pump gas from Russia into the Nord Stream network. On Monday, it referred to documents for Siemens’ turbine that are said to be out of order.
Current throughput of gas is already limited to 40% of normal capacity. As of Wednesday, the Russians say 33 million cubic meters of gas will pass through Nord Stream 1 towards the West.
One of the six turbines at the border crossing near Russia was in Canada for maintenance. It was on its way back last week, but according to Moscow the papers are not sufficient and there is insufficient certainty that the Siemens turbine can work properly. Gazprom says it sees “a few more problems” with Siemens Energy’s turbine.
“After examining the documents, Gazprom was forced to conclude that they do not eliminate the previously identified risks and raise additional questions,” the state-owned company said. Siemens would not have responded to this yet, so the turbine will not be used.
Political weapon
According to Germany, Russian President Putin is using gas supplies as a political weapon. Europe imposed six rounds of sanctions on Russia over Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.
Nord Stream 1 was put back into service last week after ten days of maintenance work. Last week, however, it only ran on production that had already been reduced to 40%.
Half of all European member states now have to contend with less gas. The Netherlands is preparing for a rapid total shutdown, according to Minister Jetten (Energy and Climate).
Maintenance
According to Gasunie, the Netherlands can survive this winter if the Russians no longer send any gas at all, provided the existing transports with liquefied gas (LNG) are completed on time, the Netherlands continues to save on its gas and the coal-fired power stations start running at full capacity. However, they have not yet picked up pace.