Russian gas flows to Europe fall, hindering bid to refill stores
Germany, like other European countries, is racing to refill its gas storage facilities before winter to 80% full by October and 90% by November but stores are currently 52% full. Picture: Mark Potter
Russian gas supply to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline fell further yesterday and Moscow said more delays in repairs could lead to suspending all flows, putting a brake on Europe's race to refill its gas inventories.
The faltering flows came as the leaders of Germany, Italy, and France visited Ukraine, which is pressing for swifter weapons deliveries to battle invading Russian forces and wants support for Kyiv's bid to join the European Union. Russia's state-controlled Gazprom said it was reducing gas supply for a second time in as many days via Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic to Germany. The latest move cuts supply to just 40% of the pipeline's capacity.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said reductions in supply were not premeditated and related to maintenance issues, a reference to earlier comments saying Russia was unable to secure the return of equipment sent to Canada for repairs.
Germany said Russia's excuse was technically "unfounded" and was instead aimed at driving up gas prices. Italy said Moscow might use the issue to exert political pressure.
Dutch wholesale gas prices, the European benchmark, jumped around 30% yesterday afternoon.
Russia's ambassador to the European Union told state news agency RIA Novosti that flows via the pipeline could be completely suspended because of problems in repairing turbines in Canada.
Alexey Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, the state-controlled company with a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, said Western sanctions made it impossible to secure the return of equipment from Canada for the pipeline's Portovaya compressor station.
Nord Stream 1 has capacity to pump about 55bn cubic metres (bcm) a year to the European Union, which last year imported about 140 bcm of gas from Russia via pipelines.
Germany, like other European countries, is racing to refill its gas storage facilities so they are 80% full by October and 90% by November before winter arrives. Stores are 52% full now.
Cutting flows through Nord Stream 1 would make that job harder, the head of the German energy regulator said.
Klaus Mueller told daily:
Germany's biggest importer of Russian gas said supplies were down a quarter on agreed volumes but it could fill missing volumes from other sources. Power producer RWE said it had seen restrictions in the past two days.
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