Gazprom slashes natural gas deliveries to Europe via NordStream
Gazprom has announced a 40% reduction in natural gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline.
The Russian gas giant has blamed German engineering giant Siemens for failing to restore key turbines “on time”, it has been reported.
The trunk subsea pipeline running across the Baltic Sea to Germany is the largest remaining route for carrying Russian gas to Europe, as volumes being sent via the Ukraine transit pipeline network have been cut since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The reduction in Nord Stream flows comes less than a month before operations are scheduled to halt completely on 11 July for the pipeline’s two-week summer maintenance programme.
Gazprom said that only three of its eight turbines remain in operation at Nord Stream’s Portovaya compressor station on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, reducing the facility’s capacity to about 100 million cubic metres per day, against the nameplate capacity of 167 MMcmd.
Siemens’ high-power SGT-A65 and SGT-A35 turbines were installed at the facility to maintain the necessary pressure in the system because there are no additional booster compressor stations along the pipeline’s 1,200-kilometre subsea section.
However, Siemens has withdrawn its services and maintenance support for Russia to comply with European sanctions against the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
"Due to the sanctions imposed by Canada, it is currently impossible for Siemens Energy to deliver overhauled gas turbines to the customer. Against this background we have informed the Canadian and German governments and are working on a viable solution," the company said.
The Russian gas giant has blamed German engineering giant Siemens for failing to restore key turbines “on time”, it has been reported.
The trunk subsea pipeline running across the Baltic Sea to Germany is the largest remaining route for carrying Russian gas to Europe, as volumes being sent via the Ukraine transit pipeline network have been cut since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The reduction in Nord Stream flows comes less than a month before operations are scheduled to halt completely on 11 July for the pipeline’s two-week summer maintenance programme.
Gazprom said that only three of its eight turbines remain in operation at Nord Stream’s Portovaya compressor station on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast, reducing the facility’s capacity to about 100 million cubic metres per day, against the nameplate capacity of 167 MMcmd.
Siemens’ high-power SGT-A65 and SGT-A35 turbines were installed at the facility to maintain the necessary pressure in the system because there are no additional booster compressor stations along the pipeline’s 1,200-kilometre subsea section.
However, Siemens has withdrawn its services and maintenance support for Russia to comply with European sanctions against the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
"Due to the sanctions imposed by Canada, it is currently impossible for Siemens Energy to deliver overhauled gas turbines to the customer. Against this background we have informed the Canadian and German governments and are working on a viable solution," the company said.
