The gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has not yet arrived after its maintenance in Canada – “The situation is significantly complicated by the restrictions and sanctions, which have been imposed against our country,” says Peskov.
THE natural gas turbine for the pipeline Nord Stream 1 of Russia has yet to arrive after its maintenance in Canada, but Moscow hopes it will be installed “sooner or later”, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The European Union has repeatedly accused Russia of energy blackmail, while the Kremlin says the reductions in natural gas deliveries have been caused by maintenance issues and as a result of Western sanctions.
Peskov reiterated that sanctions against Russia are complicating the operation of Nord Stream 1, which is reducing gas deliveries to Europe to just 20% of its capacity amid maintenance work.
Gazprom had announced that it expects a turbine, which is being maintained by Siemens Energy, to arrive from Canada after work on it.
The Russian gas giant also announced yesterday, Monday, that the flow of natural gas will be reduced to 33 million cubic meters per day from tomorrow, Wednesday — a cut in half from current, already reduced levels — because it needs to shut down another turbine at a compression station based on industry watchdog guidelines.
“Yes, indeed, there are some problems with the turbines. The turbine has not arrived after major maintenance, it is on its way. We hope that will happen (…) sooner or later,” Peskov noted, adding that another turbine also has some problems.
“The situation is significantly complicated by the restrictions and sanctions, which have been imposed against our country,” Peskov noted, adding that Nord Stream 1 would operate normally if the sanctions did not exist.
At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Moscow has not yet received satisfactory explanations regarding the condition of the turbine that was serviced by Siemens Energy in Canada.
Gazprom announced yesterday that it has received documents for the turbine, but some issues and risks remain.
Russia blamed the turbine delays on the reduction of natural gas flows through Nord Stream 1 in Germany to 40% of the pipeline’s capacity in June, and yesterday announced that flows would be halved again from tomorrow, to only 20%, as another turbine needs to be shut down.
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