Everything is now a weapon-of-war
Nord Stream pipeline to be switched off for 10 days
Gazprom’s Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline will not deliver natural gas to Germany for 10 days in mid-July as it undergoes annual maintenance. It was confirmed earlier this month that the work will take place from July 11 to July 21.
Germany is concerned over the shutdown, fearing that the flow of gas will not be turned back on, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
According to the paper, last week’s 60% reduction of gas flow by Gazprom due to a technical issue with parts has added to fears that the supply may be shut down completely. This comes as Europe is trying to top up its gas reserves ahead of the winter season.
In recent years, the maintenance-related shortfall in supplies via Nord Stream was compensated by increased flows through Ukraine or Poland. However, various officials and industry representatives told the FT they feared that Russia may not do that this time, leaving the continent to face gas shortages.
The German government on Thursday declared the second “alarm” level of its three-level gas emergency plan. According to the Federal Network Agency, the situation with gas supply is currently stable but if Russian supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline remain at the current low level Germany will struggle to fill its storage to 90% by December without additional measures.
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Weapon of choice
Photographer: Dmitry Astakhov/AFP via Getty Images
Gas crisis: Can Europe store enough gas this summer to get through the winter?
“Winter is coming, and the night is full or terrors.” The Game of Thrones most famous quote would serve well as a morning greeting for gas traders as they come into work.
Russia has drastically cut gas supplies to European customers in the last weeks, raising the spectre of another and even worse gas crisis this winter. As the war in Ukraine got underway in March, the EU ordered that underground storage tanks be filled to 80% by October 1. It’s now not clear if that target will be hit.
Russia’s Gazprom announced on June 14 that it is slashing gas flow via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 60%, blaming Siemens’ failure to return compressor units on time that had been sent off for repair, as well as other technical difficulties at the Portovaya compressor station.
Dutch front-month gas futures, the European benchmark, rose as much as 7.7% to a one-week high of €137 ($144) per MWh in Amsterdam. The contracts have gained more than 50% since Gazprom cut flows, Bloomberg reports.
Earlier Gazprom has already cut off Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland after they refused to pay for natural gas in rubles, as demanded by the Russian government.
Germany alarmed
Germany is becoming very alarmed and called the reduction in gas flows an “attack.”
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