Russia Resumes Critical Gas Supplies to Europe Via Nord Stream 1

By Staff, Agencies

Russia reopened the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline after 10 days of stopping critical supplies to Europe through Germany, dispelling fears of a retaliatory halt of gas shipments from Moscow.

“It’s working,” a Nord Stream spokesman said, without specifying the amount of gas being delivered.

According to data provided by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom to Gascade, the German operator of the line, 530 gigawatt hours [GWh] would be delivered during the day.

This was only 30 percent of its capacity, Klaus Mueller, president of Germany’s energy regulator, the Federal Network Agency, said on Twitter.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline under the Baltic Sea had been shut since July 11 to undergo annual maintenance.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had indicated that gas shipments via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would restart as soon as maintenance was complete, but also warned that flows may be limited unless a dispute over sanctioned parts is resolved.

Gazprom cut flows to Germany via the vital Nord Stream 1 pipeline by some 40 percent last month, blaming the absence of a Siemens gas turbine that was undergoing repairs in Canada.

The German government rejected Gazprom’s explanation and feared that Moscow would not reopen the pipeline after the scheduled work, in retaliation for Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission on Wednesday urged European Union countries to reduce demand for natural gas by 15 percent over the coming months to secure winter stocks and defeat Russia’s “blackmail.”