Nord Stream still offline, Europe loses one of its main sources of gas

This weekend, September 3-4, Gazprom maintenance workers were supposed to complete scheduled Nord Stream repairs and turn the pipeline back on again. But the pipe supplying gas to Europe still isn’t working. Gazprom has announced that its crew had found «oil leaks» in the turbine. And until those are eliminated, gas transfers will not resume.

Europe has already accused Gazprom of using energy for blackmail. In fact, Germany has made the same statement on August 31, when the repair work had just begun. The gas corporation continues to claim that the Nord Stream shutdown is solely the result of malfunctions in the turbine found during repairs.

However, representatives from Siemens, the turbine developer, were also present during the repairs. According to them, the problems could have been easily and quickly fixed on the spot. Siemens has also stressed that Gazprom did not order any further repairs as of yet.

Why does Nord Stream depend on a single turbine? Gazprom has sent the second one for repairs a few months ago. And now, when the turbine is ready for operation, the company refuses to install it into the pipeline. According to Gazprom, Western sanctions prevent the company from bringing the pipe back to Germany.

The G7 countries have announced today that they will soon develop price caps on Russian oil exports. Shortly thereafter, Gazprom has announced the shutdown of Nord Stream for an indefinite period.