Gazprom Cuts Gas Supplies via Nord Stream by up to 20 Percent

Having reduced supplies through Nord Stream 1, Russia has simultaneously increased supplies through the Transgas gas pipeline that runs through Ukraine and Slovakia, its operator has said. Russia’s Gazprom, as previously announced, has reduced gas supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20 percent of its capacity since July 27. “At the moment we are seeing the announced reduction,” the head of the Federal Grid Agency, Klaus Müller, confirmed to Deutschlandfunk on the morning of Wednesday, July 27. He added that the authority will observe during the day whether the gas will arrive in the given volume. Gazprom increased deliveries via Transgas At the same time, Gazprom has increased deliveries through the Transgas pipeline from Ukraine through Slovakia compared to previous days, the pipeline operator Eugas said. In the town of Velke Kapusany on the Ukrainian border, which is the starting point of the Slovakian section of the pipeline, the supplies of 68.6 million cubic meters of gas have been declared, while the previous day this figure was 36.8 million cubic meters. As dpa notes, this demonstrates that Gazprom is trying to compensate for the lack of supply to Europe via Nord Stream 1. The additional volume of Transgaz supplies roughly corresponds to the reduction of supplies through NSP1. Gazprom attributed the decrease in supplies under NSP-1 to repairs On the evening of July 25, Gazprom issued a statement about the stoppage of Siemens gas turbine engine operation at the Portovaya CS responsible for pumping gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline due to repair work. Due to the decommissioning of the turbine, the supply of Russian gas through Nord Stream 1 will be reduced from July 27 to 33 million cubic meters per day, which would be about 20 percent of the throughput capacity, the Russian concern said. The German Economy Ministry said there were “no technical reasons for the supply cuts.” In June, Gazprom sharply reduced the pumping of gas through the Nord Stream pipeline. The Russian company explains it by the untimely return of a Siemens gas turbine after repairs in Canada. From July 11 to 21 both strings of the pipeline were stopped for scheduled maintenance. In addition, because of bureaucratic delays in Germany, Gazprom did not receive the repaired turbine before the preventive maintenance of the pipeline was completed. Germany, which consumes most of its gas via Nord Stream 1, attributed the reduction to political motives. DW