National energy company Gazprom has disclosed that the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany won’t resume on Saturday as scheduled.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline would be permanently shut down after the company claimed to have discovered an oil leak in one of its turbines.
For the past three days, the pipeline has been closed for what Gazprom has referred to as maintenance work.
The news comes amid growing fears that families in the EU will not be able to afford the cost of heating this winter.
Energy prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine and scarce supplies could push up the cost even further.
Europe is attempting to wean itself off Russian energy in an effort to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war, but the transition may not come quickly enough.
EU Council President Charles Michel said the Russian move was “sadly no surprise”.
“Use of gas as a weapon will not change the resolve of the EU. We will accelerate our path towards energy independence. Our duty is to protect our citizens and support the freedom of Ukraine,” he tweeted.
Moscow denies using energy supplies as an economic weapon in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed following Russia‘s invasion.
It has blamed the sanctions for holding up routine maintenance of Nord Stream 1, but the EU says this is a pretext.
Germany’s network regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, said the country was now better prepared for Russian gas supplies to cease, but it urged citizens and companies to cut consumption.
Gazprom’s announcement came shortly after the G7 nations agreed to cap the price of Russian oil in support of Ukraine.
Their introduction of a price cap means countries that sign up to the policy will be permitted to purchase only Russian oil and petroleum products transported via sea that are sold at or below the price cap.
However, Russia says it will not export to countries that participate in the cap.
The gas pipeline stretches from the Russian coast near St Petersburg to north-eastern Germany and can carry up to 170 million cubic metres of gas a day.
It is owned and operated by Nord Stream AG, whose majority shareholder is Gazprom.
Germany had also previously supported the construction of a parallel pipeline – Nord Stream 2 – but the project was halted after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Gazprom said the fault had been detected at the Portovaya compressor station, with the inspection carried out alongside workers from Siemens, the German firm that maintains the turbine.
It said that fixing oil leaks in key engines was only possible in specialized workshops, which had been hindered by Western sanctions.
However, Siemens itself said: “Such leaks do not normally affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure within the scope of maintenance work.”
This is not the first time since the invasion that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been closed.
In July, Gazprom cut off supplies completely for 10 days, citing “a maintenance break”. It restarted again 10 days later, but at a much-reduced level.
Speaking to the BBC from the Swiss capital Bern, an economist and energy analyst, Cornelia Meyer, said the gas shutdown would have a major impact on employment and prices.
“That really has huge ramifications for gas in Europe which is about four times more expensive than it was a year ago and this cost of living crisis will really soar because it’s not just gas,” she said. “Gas becomes fertilizer and it’s used in many industrial processes, so that will affect jobs, and it will affect costs.”
The flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 had already been reduced to a relative trickle. Now, once again, it has been halted completely.
An oil leak, claims Gazprom – which has previously attributed reduced flows through the pipeline to technical issues related to sanctions.
Europe, though, believes President Putin is weaponizing gas supplies – deliberately limiting flows through the pipeline to push up prices, in order to test the resolve of Russia’s critics.
The result, as we’ve already seen, is soaring energy costs – with businesses and consumers paying a heavy price.
The timing of Gazprom’s move is certainly interesting. It comes on the same day the G7 announced moves to cap the price of Russia’s oil exports.
But it also comes shortly after Germany – which is heavily reliant on Russian gas – revealed that its winter storage was filling up faster than expected.
A cynic might say this was the last opportunity to tighten the screw, in order to inflict maximum damage over the colder months.