Russia cuts gas to carry out ‘maintenance’
Prices jump by 10pc as Russian state-controlled firm slashes output and blames maintenance issues
Gazprom said that it would cut gas deliveries to Europe by 80 per cent in order to carry out maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline. European gas prices increased by more than 10 per cent after the Russian state-controlled energy giant’s announcement. Germany, which fears being plunged into recession by a complete cut-off from Russian gas, rejected Gazprom’s latest excuse for a slowdown in supplies. Flows through the pipeline are already cut to 40 per cent.
GAZPROM last night said it would cut gas deliveries to Europe by 80 per cent in order to carry out maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
European gas prices rose by more than 10 per cent after the Russian statecontrolled energy firm broke the news.
It came as Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Moscow wants to topple Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, despite having entered peace talks with his envoys a few months earlier.
As Russia struggles against new Western weapons, Mr Lavrov said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime”.
It marks the first Kremlin reference to regime change since the war began.
Politicians and officials from across the Continent have accused Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, of weaponising energy supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs 760 miles from Russia to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea, has been at the centre of heightened diplomatic tensions between the West and Moscow.
Flows through the pipeline had already shrunk to 40 per cent capacity as a turbine shipped to Canada for refurbishment did not return, which the Kremlin blamed on Western sanctions.
But Gazprom yesterday said on social media it would slash deliveries further, to 20 per cent of its usual quantities, to fix another of the powerful turbines that push gas through the pipeline.
The Kremlin-controlled entity said it was “shutting down one more gas turbine engine produced by Siemens”, a German company.
Berlin, which fears being plunged into a devastating economic recession by a complete cut-off from Russian gas, rejected Gazprom’s latest excuse for a slow-down in supplies.
“Based on our information there is no technical reason for a reduction in
‘Russia is playing a strategic game here. Fluctuating already low flows is better than a full cut-off’
deliveries,” the German economy ministry said in a statement.
Panicked EU governments are already war-gaming for the possibility of a complete cut-off from Russian gas this winter, which would leave the bloc struggling to heat homes and keep their factories open.
However, instead of fully severing supplies, analysts believe the Kremlin is far more likely to keep deliveries artificially low to manipulate the price of gas.
Simone Tagliapietra, of the Brusselsbased Bruegel think-tank, told The New York Times: “Gazprom’s announcement should not surprise. Russia is playing a strategic game here. Fluctuating already low flows is better than a full cut-off as it manipulates the market and optimises geopolitical impact.”
Yesterday, Volodymyr Zelensky called on Europe to retaliate against Russia’s “gas war” by boosting its sanctions against Moscow.
“Today we heard new gas threats to Europe... This is an open gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe,” the Ukrainian president said.
The Kremlin sought to ease European fears by saying its missing turbine, which Canada eventually released back to Russia, would be reinstalled when it arrives in the country. The component arrived in Germany earlier this month but missed a ferry to Helsinki on Saturday after a paperwork delay, according to the Russian Kommersant newspaper.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said: “The turbine will be installed after all the technological formalities have been completed, and the flows will be at the levels that are technologically possible.”