Russia reduces gas flow to Germany to 20% of Nord Stream capacity

Pipes at the gas compressor station in Mallnow, Germany, of July

| Photo: EFE/EPA/FILIP SINGER

The Russian giant Gazprom reduced this Wednesday (20) pumping gas to Germany at one-fifth of the capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline for “technical reasons”, according to information released by the company itself on its website .

The flow reduction started at 9:00 am (Moscow time; 3:00 am Brasília time). The company reported that the daily volume transported through Nord Stream will be 33 million cubic meters.

Gazprom has linked this new drop in pumping to the state of a turbine, after expiring the deadline for a new repair, as stipulated by technical standards.

In mid-June, Gazprom reduced the daily volume of gas pumped through Nord Stream, which accounts for 26% of the gas pipeline supply capacity, of 100 million cubic meters to 67 millions of cubic meters, due to the need to repair the turbine.

In July, the Russian company completely suspended the pumping gas through Nord Stream for days for “maintenance work routine”.

In 18 of July, the pipeline was put back into operation with 26% of total capacity.

On Tuesday (20), the minister Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline “can fully meet Europe’s needs”, but that operation would not be allowed “for political reasons”, referring to European sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The day before, the Kremlin said that Russia “not interested” in interrupting the supply of gas to Europe. “Russia has been and remains a country that largely ensures Europe’s energy security,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He warned, however, that “if Europe continues on the path of adopting senseless restrictions and sanctions, which affect itself, the situation will be different”.

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