Russian gas deliveries via Nord Stream, the main route for export of Russian gas to Europe, will be temporarily halted again on Wednesday night, this time for three days, until the night of September 3. The reason for the suspension is the repair of the only gas compressor unit remaining in operation, while transportation and repair work of the remaining units is still under question, Trend reports citing TASS.
The suspension is necessary for preventive maintenance work on the unit. As Gazprom pointed out, Siemens needs to do such maintenance of the unit every 1,000 hours. If the work is completed and there are no technical faults in the equipment, gas transportation will be restored to 33 mln cubic meters per day.
During the work on Nord Stream, the only route for Russian gas deliveries to the Western and Central European countries is via Ukraine: recently, the Ukrainian side has been confirming its requests in the amount of around 42 million cubic meters per day. Gas supplies via TurkStream and Blue Stream are intended for Turkey and the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe.
The previous full halt of the Nord Stream deliveries took place in mid-July. At that time, from July 11 to July 21, the pipeline was undergoing the annual scheduled repair. However, shortly after pumping was restored to an already low level, gas transport via Nord Stream dropped even further. Gazprom had to shut down another gas turbine engine at the Portovaya compressor station due to the end of the overhaul interval. As a result, since July 27, the pipeline has operated at only 20% of its maximum capacity, which is about 33 mln cubic meters per day.
Such situation around Nord Stream has developed because Siemens failed to fulfill its contract obligations. One of the turbines, manufactured in Canada by Siemens Energy, was sent to Montreal for repairs. Due to Ottawa's sanctions against Moscow, the manufacturer initially refused to return the repaired equipment to Germany, but after numerous requests, it still decided to return it. However, now the turbine is stuck in Germany because Gazprom does not have the full set of documents that authorize the transportation and repair of Nord Stream engines, and the rest of the engines (except for the last one that is running) have been taken out of service while waiting for service work to be performed by Siemens.
The decline in supplies via Nord Stream has already had a considerable impact on the European gas market. Last week, the spot gas price on the ICE in Europe exceeded $3,500 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since the beginning of March. It was close to a historical record: the gas price reached nearly $3,900 on March 7, 2022.