Russia suspends gas shipments to Germany via Nord Stream 1 due to ‘maintenance work’

Because of the intervention, which the Russians consider necessary to carry out maintenance of the facilities, gas has stopped flowing through Nord Stream 1 towards Germany from today. Russia’s Gazprom said this would remain so at least until Saturday.

Gas supplies from Russia have already been cut off significantly. For example, only 40 percent of Nord Stream 1’s energy was used in June and only 20 percent in July. Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland are all completely depleted. • If supply is further reduced, this would push the unprecedentedly high prices even further.

Despite slowing supplies, Germany appears to be able to replenish its gas supplies faster than previously feared. Earlier this week, German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck (Die Grünen) announced that German warehouses were filling up quickly. The target of filling 85 percent of gas reserves by October is expected to be reached by September. The target for September was also reached last month. European natural gas prices reacted to this Monday morning with a significant drop.

It is not yet clear what the consequences of the new outage will be. The head of the German network regulator, Klaus Muller, has already indicated that his country is better prepared thanks to large reserves, possibilities to use other sources, and savings in gas consumption.

However, not everyone is convinced. For example, it is not certain that deliveries will resume on Saturday. Russia also announced that Gas shipments to France’s Engie will stop this week Because the French were not living up to their contractual obligations.