The Federal Network Agency as the regulatory authority and Siemens Energy as the supplier of pipeline technology contradicted the presentation of the Russian state-owned company on Saturday, citing technical reasons.
“According to the assessment of the Federal Network Agency, the defects alleged by the Russian side are technically no reason for the cessation of operations,” said the Federal Network Agency, which reports to the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. Siemens Energy again rejected Gazprom’s account in several details.
Supposedly oil leak discovered
Gazprom initially announced a three-day supply interruption due to scheduled maintenance work on the pipeline. But then the group said on Friday evening that deliveries through Nord Stream 1 could not be resumed on Saturday as planned. Because of an oil leak, a gas turbine cannot be operated safely. The pumps in the Russian compressor station Portovaya were therefore stopped.
A few hours earlier, the Russian leadership renewed its demand for the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be put into operation. This is idle in the course of Western economic sanctions as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine. Germany has repeatedly dismissed the technical reasons given by Russia for supply restrictions as pretexts.
Siemens: Enough turbines
Gazprom followed up on Saturday and said that Siemens would take part in repair work as contractually agreed and would be ready to fix any oil leaks that were found. However, there is no repair facility where this work could be done.
The turbine manufacturer Siemens Energy, which has meanwhile been split off from the Siemens group, confirmed: “Such leaks do not normally affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site.” Siemens Energy is ready, but is currently not commissioned with maintenance work. In addition, there are enough turbines in the Portovaya compressor station for pipeline operation.
Situation tense but stable
The Federal Network Agency further explained on Saturday that the gas supply situation in Germany was tense and that a further deterioration could not be ruled out. “The gas supply in Germany is stable at the moment. The security of supply in Germany is currently guaranteed.” Good progress has been made both in filling storage facilities and in supplying supplies via other delivery routes than Russian pipelines and in creating new landing capacities for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The German gas storage facilities are already 84.53 percent full.
More gas through Ukraine
Gazprom wants to pump more natural gas to Europe via a pipeline running through Ukraine after the failure of gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea. On Saturday, 42.7 million cubic meters of natural gas should flow through the pipeline, the Russian gas giant announced. On Friday, 41.3 million cubic meters of gas delivered through the Ukrainian pipeline were registered at the Suja filling point. However, the additional volumes are not enough to compensate for the loss of gas that was supposed to be pumped via Nord Stream 1.
Source: Nachrichten
