The Russian state company Gazprom announced this Friday (2) the total suspension of the flow of gas through the Nord Stream gas pipeline for indefinite time due to an oil leak identified during maintenance of the only compressor station still in operation.
“Until the equipment malfunction is resolved, gas transit through the Nord Stream pipeline is completely suspended”, explained Gazprom on Telegram.
The announcement comes one day before the date on which the Russian gas company was supposed to resume supplying fuel to Europe via the pipeline – which was already working with only 20% of capacity – after three days of maintenance a turbine at the compressor station.2022
This Friday, the head of the Commission European a, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union needs to impose a price cap on gas supplied by Russia to avoid manipulation of the bloc’s energy market by Vladimir Putin’s country.
“A gas price ceiling can be proposed at the European level, and there is also a legal basis at the European level to reduce the profits temporarily as an emergency measure in times of crisis”, he declared, during a visit to Germany.
Also this Friday, the members of the G7, group of the seven most developed countries in the world, agreed to impose a price ceiling on Russian oil. According to information from the BBC, the economy ministers of these nations argued that this limit, which will be established according to “technical” criteria, would also help to reduce global energy prices.
The measure is intended to harm the revenues of the Russian state and its war effort against Ukraine. “We will stick with Ukraine for as long as necessary,” declared the G7. Russia has been reiterating that it will stop selling oil to countries that impose price limits and must do the same in relation to gas supply.2022