BERLIN (AP) 鈥� Russian energy giant Gazprom said Monday that it would further to 20% of capacity, citing equipment repairs. The move ramps up fears that Russia may cut off gas as political leverage over the just as Europe tries to shore up storage for winter.
The Russian state-owned company tweeted that it would reduce 鈥渢he daily throughput鈥� of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 33 million cubic meters as of Wednesday, saying it was shutting down a turbine for repairs. The head of Germany's network regulator, Klaus Mueller, confirmed that the flow was expected to be cut in half.
Deliveries were at 40% of capacity after Nord Stream 1 . The German government said it rejected the notion that technical reasons would lead to further gas reductions.
Russian President Vladimir 鈥淧utin is playing a perfidious game,鈥� German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told news agency dpa. 鈥淗e is trying to weaken the great support for Ukraine and drive a wedge into our society. To do this, he stirs up uncertainty and drives up prices. We are countering this with unity and concentrated action.鈥�
Natural gas is used to keep industry humming, generate electricity and heat homes in the winter, and if Europe does not save enough gas and rationing is required to . Energy prices have been soaring for months 鈥� spiking again after Gazprom's announcement 鈥� that is squeezing people's spending power.
The new reduction should not be a surprise, said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert at Bruegel think tank in Brussels.
鈥淩ussia is playing a strategic game here. Fluctuating already low flows is better than a full cut-off, as it manipulates the market and optimizes geopolitical impact," he said.
Russia has cut off or reduced natural gas to a dozen European Union countries. The goal is to use less gas now to build storage for winter, with the EU proposing member states over the coming months. It's also seeking the power to impose mandatory cuts across the 27-nation bloc if there鈥檚 a risk of a severe gas shortage or very high demand.
But , pointing to few energy connections with the rest of Europe and use of Russian gas that's far below countries like Germany and Italy. Diplomats were scrambling to ahead of an emergency meeting Tuesday.
Gazprom's new reduction 鈥渟hould increase pressure on EU energy ministers to deliver a sensible deal," Tagliapietra said. 鈥淎ction on this cannot be delayed any more."
Russia recently has accounted for about a third of Germany鈥檚 gas supplies. The government said last week that the drop in gas flows confirmed that Germany can鈥檛 rely on Russian deliveries, announcing that it would step up its gas storage requirements and take further measures to conserve supplies.
Gazprom raised questions earlier Monday about the return of a second turbine that has been at the center of Nord Stream 1 tensions, saying it wasn't satisfied with documents it has received.
Gazprom initially through the pipeline by 60% in mid-June, alleging technical problems involving the part that partner Siemens Energy sent to sa国际传媒 for overhaul and couldn鈥檛 be returned because of sanctions.
for a compressor station at the pipeline鈥檚 Russian end to be delivered to Germany, which is where the German government said it was last week.
The Russian energy company asserted that issues regarding EU and British sanctions 鈥渞emain unresolved for Gazprom,鈥� though that was important for delivering the turbine 鈥渁nd performing urgent major repair of other turbine engines鈥� for the same compressor station. Later, the company tweeted it was 鈥渟hutting down one more gas turbine engine produced by Siemens鈥� Energy.
Germany says all sides have been informed that the original part isn鈥檛 subject to EU sanctions. Siemens Energy said turbine maintenance is a routine measure, and over the past 10 years, there have been 鈥渘o significant complications,鈥� dpa reported.
The company said the transport of the turbine has been prepared and could start immediately and that it had told Gazprom it had all the necessary documents at the beginning of last week.
鈥淲hat is missing, however, are required customs documents for import to Russia,鈥� Siemens Energy said in a statement, adding that this information could only be provided by the customer.
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