Conflicts & War

Nord Stream 1 won’t resume until turbine repaired, says Moscow

Moscow, Sep 6 (EFE).- Gas supplies to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume until Siemens Energy repairs a faulty turbine, Russia’s energy minister said Tuesday.

The gas flow will resume “as soon as the issue is settled in accordance with the contractual commitment of turbine repair,” Nikolai Shulginov said during the 7th Eastern Economic Forum that opened Tuesday in Vladivostok, according to state news agency Tass.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said Friday that an engine oil leak was detected during maintenance work and supply would be shut off until it was repaired.

Another faulty turbine has already been repaired by German firm Siemens Energy in Canada, but despite Ottawa authorizing its return through Germany as an exception to the Western sanctions imposed on Russia, it has not yet returned to Portovaya as Moscow insists paperwork is not in order. This is disputed by Berlin.

Siemens Energy has said that the oil leak is not a technical reason to completely stop the pipeline as Gazprom did on Friday, since the problem “can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure within the scope of maintenance work.”

It added that there were “other turbines available at the Portovaya compressor station for Nord Stream 1 to operate.”

Gazprom insisted the previous day that there could be an explosion or fire at the Portovaya compressor station if gas supplies were resumed through the pipeline before the fault was fixed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday reiterated Moscow’s claims that sanctions are preventing maintenance on the pipeline.

“We cannot say how repairs [at Nord Stream] will be conducted as sanctions prevent them,” he said, according to Tass.

“Gazprom has repeatedly confirmed its reliability as a guarantor of energy security of the European continent, but sanctions imposed by the EU, the UK, the US and Canada have virtually broken the system of technical maintenance of turbine components that ensured the pumping,” he added.

“European states and the states that imposed sanctions against [Russia] are fully responsible for this situation.” EFE

mos/tw

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