The bickering over the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline is entering the next round: After the Russian gas company Gazprom announced that it would have to suspend deliveries again for a few days due to necessary maintenance work, the German federal network agency “understands” the accompanying statement. The arguments put forward so far are only appearances, so the criticism.
“This maintenance interruption is also technically incomprehensible to us,” said the chairman of the network office, Klaus Müller, on Tuesday. Experience shows that Russia “made a political decision after every so-called meeting”.
“Probably only the Russian president knows”
“We won’t know until early September whether Russia will do that again,” he said. “Probably only the Russian president knows that.” Gazprom spoke on Friday about work on “preventive maintenance” of the pipeline – the outage is expected to last from August 31 to September 2.
Deliveries reduced even after maintenance
Over the three days, the only working turbine at the Portovaya compressor station had to be checked and overhauled. This should be done in collaboration with specialists from Siemens Energy. After that, 33 million cubic meters of natural gas would have to be supplied daily. This corresponds to the 20 percent of the daily maximum output to which Russia reduced deliveries a few weeks ago.
As early as July, Gazprom stopped supplying gas via Nord Stream 1 for a few days, citing maintenance work. However, the Federal Network Agency deems all of the previous arguments that it is attributable to Siemens Energy’s turbines to be false.
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.
