A gas pipeline running at half throttle. The pun is easy, but the supply crisis is serious. Russian energy giant Gazprom said today that it is shutting down one more turbine on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance, further reducing the flow of gas to Europe.
Gazprom has stated that, due to the turbine shutdown, the daily production capacity of Russia's Portovaya station will be reduced to 33 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas per day from 6 a.m. on 27 March. July, below its full capacity of more than 160 mcm per day.
This means that the Russian company will supply only 20% of the total capacity of the NordStream1. This pipeline built offshore from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany is one of the largest gateways for Russian gas to Europe.
Immediate is being the reflection on the prices. The reference price in Europe in Amsterdam rose 5.1% to 168 euros per megawatt, after having exceeded 170 euros.
Russia is the world's second largest exporter of oil, after Saudi Arabia, and the world's largest exporter of natural gas. Europe imports about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from Russia.
The Kremlin has previously said that Moscow was not interested in a complete shutdown of Russian gas supplies to Europe, which is rushing to fill its underground stores before the winter season.
