Putin sets condition for gas delivery to Germany – are important documents missing?
Created: 07/21/2022, 05:00
By: Tobias Utz
According to a report, Russia is to deliver more gas to Germany again.
President Putin sets a condition for this.
+++ 2.30 p.m .:
According to its own statements, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom has not yet received any documents for the turbine, which is required for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
The security of gas supplies via the pipeline should therefore definitely be questioned, the company said in a statement on Telegram: "To date, Gazprom has not received any official documents from the Siemens group that would allow, under the conditions of the sanctions imposed by Canada and the EU, to install the gas turbine engine in the 'Portovaya' compressor station,” it says.
"Under these circumstances, Gazprom again asked Siemens to provide the documents."
However, the right contact for the Russian government or Gazprom would not be Siemens, but the outsourced company Siemens Energy.
However, Gazprom's publications do not indicate which company was contacted about the turbine.
A gas meter in a basement shows the gas consumption for heating and hot water in the household.
Germany is one of the countries in the world that uses the most gas for heating.
(symbol photo) © Christoph Hardt / Imago Images
According to Siemens Energy, the maintenance of the turbine is a "routine operation".
"If politically desired and possible due to the sanctions regime, we will maintain other turbines with the usual high quality standards if we are commissioned to do so.
In such cases, our goal is always to transport the turbine back to its place of use as quickly as possible,” said Siemens Energy.
Gas crisis: Russia probably wants to deliver gas to Germany again – but Putin has one condition
Update from Wednesday, July 20, 8:00 a.m.:
Regardless of reports from Tuesday that Russia wants to deliver more gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, President Vladimir Putin has made the next threat in the energy crisis.
If the turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline repaired in Canada does not arrive in Russia soon, the daily delivery volume will fall even more, he told the Russian state news agency
TASS
at a meeting in Tehran.
background
Criteria list in the energy crisis: Who could be turned off the gas first
"We still have a finished route - that's Nord Stream 2. We can put it into operation," said Putin.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline – the most important gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – was put into operation in 2011 and has a capacity of around 55 billion cubic meters per year.
Since June, however, Russia's state energy giant Gazprom has reduced gas deliveries to Germany by more than half the daily maximum to 67 million cubic meters.
The reason for this is the missing turbine from Siemens Energy.
The pipeline, which is more than 1,200 kilometers long, is also currently completely shut down for annual maintenance work - until Thursday (July 21) as planned.
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An impending stop in the supply of Russian natural gas is causing gas prices to rise.
(Illustration) © agrarmotive / Imago Images
The EU Commission intends to present any plans for a Russian gas supply stop today, Wednesday.
Report in the Ukraine war: Russia wants to deliver gas to Germany again - this is apparently planned
First report from Tuesday, July 19, 5 p.m.:
Moscow – After maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Russia wants to restart gas supplies to western Europe.
This is reported by the Reuters
news agency
.
According to the report, which relies on two insider sources, the gas flow through the lines is expected to be back to where it was before July 11th.
For comparison:
At this point, capacities had already been throttled to 40 percent.
Gas deliveries are scheduled to resume from Thursday (July 21),
Reuters
reports.
“They [Gazprom;
Note d.
Red] will return to pre-July 11 levels,” one of the insiders told the news outlet.
The EU Commission had already prepared for several scenarios.
This includes, among other things, the option that gas deliveries through the Baltic Sea pipeline would not be resumed, said a spokesman in Brussels.
Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn had previously stated on a trip to Singapore that the latter development was assumed: "We are working on the assumption that it will not go back into operation," he said, according to a report by the
Wall Street Journal
.
Gas crisis: Russia wants to deliver via Nord Stream 1 again
When asked about his statements, the commission spokesman explained that the authority's gas emergency plan for the winter of 2022 was based on the possibility that Russia's gas supplies would fail completely.
"We are basing our plans for winter preparations on a worst-case scenario."
The EU Commission intends to present the plans on Wednesday (July 20).
According to an announcement, part of this should be how the EU countries can reduce gas demand and at the same time reduce the risk of a winter gas shortage.
The Reuters
news agency
has a draft of the plan: Among other things, it talks about financial incentives for companies that should lead to a general reduction in gas consumption.
(do with dpa/AFP)