Russia cuts gas supply to Nord Stream 1 until further notice

The supply through the ‘Nord Stream 1’ pipeline, key to the arrival of gas to central Europe, will remain interrupted until further notice, according to Gazprom due to a series of technical problems that make it impossible to reopen.

The Russian gas giant had already temporarily paralyzed the supply for maintenance reasons and, this Friday, has explained that new problems have been detected in the only turbine that was still working.

Specifically, the company has reported in a statement an oil leak — a problem similar to the one allegedly detected in the other three turbines — so the gas flow will not resume this Saturday as planned, Interfax agency reports. The company has shared on its Telegram profile an image showing the alleged leak.

Gazprom President Alexei Miller has assured that the sanctions imposed by the international community in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine hinder the repair work, which would fall to the firm Siemens.

The Russian giant expected to resume this Saturday the flow of gas at a level of 33 million cubic meters per day, an amount equivalent to 20 percent of the effective capacity of this infrastructure, according to Bloomberg.

Germany is relying on this pipeline to cover domestic demand, after another alternative project, ‘Nord Stream 2’, has been shelved due to the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February.

Just this Friday, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dimitri Medvedev, had already threatened to leave Europe without gas if initiatives to establish a price cap prosper, as have been raised, among others, by the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

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