POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Aug 4 2022 : Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom said it would be impossible to take back a turbine vital to supplying gas to Europe because of Western sanctions. BBC news.
The 40-foot (12-meter) tall turbine has been stuck in Germany for several days after being repaired in Canada.
Berlin claims the turbine is unaffected by the ban. At the same time, Germany has accused Russia of not honoring the agreement for political reasons.
Gazprom has recently cut gas supplies to Europe dramatically. One of the main means of gas supply from Russia to Europe is the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The capacity of that pipeline is currently supplying 20 percent of its gas to Germany.
Moscow supplied 40 percent of the EU’s total gas imports last year. As a result, Russia has reduced the supply of gas to Europe, creating a large deficit in Europe. This shortage has caused the wholesale price of gas to rise dramatically.
Gas demand is usually highest in Europe during winter. But several countries are struggling to buy enough gas for winter storage.
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the factory of energy company Siemens Energy. The Russian turbines are there now. After visiting the factory, he said, the turbine is ready to be sent to Russia anytime.
Olaf Schultz said at the time, referring to Russia’s reluctance, “But someone has to say I want it.”
Moscow says it will take back the turbines and consider increasing gas supplies to Europe only if it receives written assurances it will not be hit by Western sanctions.
Gazprom said last June that gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline were delayed by 40 percent of normal, delaying the return of the turbine to Canada for repairs. For this they are forced to reduce gas supply. Apart from this, the pipeline is repaired every year. As part of that, gas supply to Europe through Nord Stream 1 was stopped for 10 consecutive days recently.
Since yesterday, the gas supply through that pipeline has started again, but this time the supply of gas through Nord Stream 1 has been further reduced to 20 percent. Russia is citing a technical fault in one of the two remaining turbines as the reason.
Wholesale prices for natural gas in Europe rose 10 percent within a day of Russia’s announcement last week.
Berlin says there is in fact no such problem as Russia says is a technical fault behind the supply cuts. Meanwhile, the European Union called Russia’s gas supply cuts politically motivated.
Germany is the largest buyer of Russian gas in Europe. At the end of June, Germany was supplying 26 percent of its total imports from Russia.
Germany is now trying to import gas from other sources as Russian supplies dwindle. The country has also taken several plans to reduce gas consumption. At the same time, the government of the country has also warned the citizens about the increase in gas prices.
Meanwhile, another pipeline called Nord Stream 2 to supply Russian gas to Europe has been completed. Negotiations were underway between Berlin and Moscow to launch it. But in the meantime the war in Ukraine started. In protest, Germany withdrew from the talks.
