Volumes passing through the Nord Stream gas pipeline will be halved from Wednesday, less than a week after the end of a previous cut.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Less than a week after reopening the tap of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which links Russia to Germany, the Russian giant Gazprom will partially close it, he announced on Monday July 25. From Wednesday, its deliveries will only represent 33 million m3 daily, or 20% of the gas pipeline’s capacity, compared to 40% currently. The company invokes a technical reason, already used to justify the previous cut, but Berlin disputes this explanation.
In mid-June, Gazprom had reduced the volume of its deliveries to 40% of Nord Stream’s capacity, explaining then that the gas pipeline could not operate normally without a turbine sent for repair in Canada. And Moscow had accused the sanctions taken by the West after its invasion of Ukraine of preventing the return of this piece. Germany and Canada have since agreed to ship the equipment back to Russia, but it has yet to be delivered.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned that gas deliveries could be reduced again due to maintenance of a second turbine. Explanations contested by Germany. “According to our information, there is no technical reason to reduce deliveries”, reacted a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of the Economy. During the previous cut, Germany had already denounced a decision “Politics” and one “pretext” to put pressure on Europe.