Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin late Tuesday suggested that natural gas would flow back to Europe after the Nord Stream 1 pipeline shut down, but warned that supply could be severely curtailed.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran, after meeting with leaders of Iran and Turkey, Mr Putin said shipments through Nord Stream 1 were hampered by repairs needed for turbines made by the German company Siemens. Even before the pipeline was shut down for annual maintenance on July 11, flows from Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, had been reduced to just 40 percent of capacity.
European leaders are bracing for Russia to keep the pipeline, the main artery between Russia and Germany, offline after maintenance works ended Thursday, in retaliation for resistance to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. But some analysts have pointed out that if Russia were to end gas flows to Europe, it would lose some of its influence over Europe in the economic struggle it has begun since the invasion of Ukraine.
Gazprom blames reduced flows on a missing turbine that had been sent to Montreal for repair and could not be returned due to sanctions against Russia. German officials disputed Gazprom’s claim.
Since then, the German government has secured the return of the Siemens turbine from Canada, but Mr Putin said another one was now in need of refurbishment. “If one more comes, then it’s good, two will work. And if it doesn’t come, there will be one, it will only be 30 million cubic meters per day,” he told reporters. That’s less than 20 percent of the pipeline’s capacity of 160 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Data on a Nord Stream website showed a small amount of gas was flowing through the pipeline on Tuesday afternoon, in an apparent test.
