Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company, announced on Friday the complete stoppage of supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, due to an oil leak in the Trent 60 gas compressor at Portovaya station.
Nord Stream 1, which links Russia to Germany, had already had its supply suspended since Thursday, due to alleged maintenance, but now, Gazprom has cut it and does not advance any forecast for the restoration of gas supply by Nord Stream 1. Initially, the expectation was that the shipment of gas would resume this weekend, which did not happen. According to Gazprom, supply to Nord Stream 1 will not resume until all issues are resolved. “Gazprom’s announcement this afternoon that it is closing Nord Stream 1, under fallacious pretexts, is another confirmation of its lack of reliability as a supplier,” Eric Mamer, a spokesman for the European Commission, wrote on his Twitter profile. a testament to the cynicism of Russia, which prefers to burn gas rather than honor contracts, he added.” The economy of Russia, one of the main exporting countries of oil and gas, has benefited from the rise in the prices of these raw materials since the beginning of the special military mission in Ukraine on 24 February. The group of the seven richest countries in the world, the G7, considers that the purchase of gas by Western Europe has helped to indirectly finance Russia in the war against Ukraine.
Russia has retaliated against Western sanctions, and this is not the first time discussions about shutting down Nord Stream 1 for maintenance have taken place this year, with interruptions or reductions in the stream taking place since June. Western Europe is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas (used in the region to heat homes and industries) and, before the war, had 40 percent of its natural gas flow from Russia.
