The scarcity that threatens to plunge the continent into an energy crisis this winter will deepen if Russia doesn’t soon resume exporting natural gas to Europe via its Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Gazprom, the state-owned energy company in Russia, announced on Friday that it would not restore pipeline flows on Saturday as scheduled because an oil leak had been discovered at its Portovaya compressor station. Since Wednesday, the pipeline has been closed for maintenance. A timeframe for when exports might start up again was not provided. It didn’t give a timeline of when exports might resume.
Gazprom stated in a statement that gas supplies to the Nord Stream gas pipeline have been stopped entirely until the problems with the equipment’s operation are fixed.
With nearly 35% of Europe’s total Russian gas imports last year, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is a vital conduit for delivering Russia’s abundant gas supplies to Europe. It travels directly to Germany, the EU’s largest economy, which depends heavily on Russian gas to power its heavy industry and residential buildings. But ever since it invaded Ukraine in late February, Russia and Europe have been at odds over energy.
The news of the prolonged shutdown was announced on the same day that the major Western economies decided to cap the price of Russian oil in an effort to reduce Moscow’s ability to fund its war while containing global inflation. This could lead to nations denying funding or insurance for oil shipments.
Russia had previously vowed to react by forbidding the export of oil to nations that use price caps. The ongoing economic battle between Russia and the West has also been heavily influenced by the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Due to maintenance concerns and a dispute over a missing turbine that was hampered by Western export bans, Gazprom has reduced flows via Nord Stream 1 to just 20% of their maximum capacity since June.