Gazprom demands return of turbine serviced in Canada - Habeck speaks of "pretext"

Created: 07/17/2022, 04:52

By: Bettina Menzel

Gazprom Kirishi Power Plant: No gas is currently flowing through Nord Stream 1 due to maintenance work.

It is currently still unclear whether Russia will turn on the tap again on July 21 (symbol image).

© imago stock&people/IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

According to Gazprom, Siemens has requested the return of the turbine serviced in Canada.

The continued operation of Nord Stream 1 depends on this, according to the Russian state-owned company.

Saint Petersburg - The Russian Gazprom group makes the continued operation of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline dependent on a turbine that is currently located at Siemens.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) sees this as just an excuse, saying Gazprom has enough operational turbines.

Nord Stream 1 is currently closed due to annual maintenance work. It is questionable whether Russia will open the gas tap again after the maintenance work is complete.

Gazprom makes continued operation of Nord Stream 1 dependent on turbines

According to its own statements, the Russian state-owned company has asked Siemens to return a turbine repaired in Canada.

On July 15, Gazprom made an “official application” to Siemens to receive the “documents enabling the export of the Portovaya station turbine,” the Russian company said on Saturday.

They are counting on "that the Siemens concern will unconditionally fulfill its obligations to repair and maintain gas turbine engines, on which the reliability of the operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the supply of natural gas to European consumers depend," Gazprom said.

Federal Minister of Economics Habeck allegedly thinks the missing turbine is just an excuse

Canada had already given the green light for the export of the turbine to Germany last weekend.

The Siemens group then announced that they wanted to install the turbine as soon as possible.

However, Gazprom said last Wednesday that it had not received any guarantees that the turbine would be returned - and questioned the continued operation of Nord Stream 1.

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Federal Minister of Economics Habeck considers this to be just a pretext.

"Russia could have used almost 100 percent of the capacity of Nord Stream 1 even without this one turbine," he told the R

, referring to the reduction in gas supplies even before maintenance work on Nord Stream 1 began.

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With the help of the Canadian government, Russia was given an excuse, because Canada had granted the necessary special permit, and Siemens is doing everything possible to ensure that the turbine gets to the place of use in Russia via Germany as quickly as possible, Habeck continued.

“But it is important to me that, according to all experts, the missing component was nothing more than an excuse for Russian propaganda.

Gazprom has operational turbines.”

Energy crisis: Will Russia turn on the gas tap again after the maintenance work?

No gas is currently flowing through Nord Stream 1 due to annual maintenance work.

According to Nord Stream AG, no transport capacities have been available since Monday, 6 a.m.

In the course of the same morning, according to data from the operating company, the actual gas flow also fell to practically zero.

Gas should no longer flow until July 21, 6:00 a.m. - that is, for ten days.

According to the operator, the corresponding work lasted between 10 and 14 days in the past few years.

But since mid-June, Gazprom has severely curtailed gas supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline, citing the defective turbine.

Most recently, according to the Federal Network Agency, the line was only about 40 percent utilized.

This is seen as the Kremlin's reaction to western sanctions due to the Ukraine war

.