As of Thursday, Russia has officially put the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline into maintenance mode and shut down the gas supply through it. Since the start of the outage, there has been growing concern about whether gas transport will resume in this way at all. Now everything seems clear: the gas should flow again, albeit significantly reduced.
As the German “Bild” quotes from preliminary data from grid operator Gascade from Wednesday morning, the long-awaited deliveries will resume from Thursday. As an insider explained to Reuters news agency, only 40 percent of the capacity can be skimmed off — that is, gas will be delivered at the same level as it was before maintenance.
Putin has an ace up his sleeve
This means that gas volumes are close to the level that most Western European countries can safely survive the winter – provided there are no further supply restrictions. Russian President Vladimir Putin must hold that trump card in order to be able to open the gas tap again as a possible pressure medium.
Recently, a resumption of deliveries in Europe was no longer expected. Only on Tuesday did Austrian EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn (ÖVP) declare that he did not believe in Russia’s promise that gas would flow again from Thursday.
EU struggles for alternatives
And the delivery of a Canadian-made gas turbine is apparently not on time anymore – according to information from Russia it only arrived in Germany on Sunday – but the onward transport will probably take a total of five to seven days.
Meanwhile, EU countries are desperately trying to tap into alternative gas sources. Austrian Infrastructure Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) recently announced an important step in this direction: additional pipeline capacity for gas from Norway could be secured. And enough to get through the winter without Russian gas.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
