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Europe’s Gas Prices Surge 13% As Russia Reduces Nord Stream Flow
Russia’s Gazprom said on Tuesday that it would limit natural gas supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 40 percent compared to planned flows because of a delay in equipment repairs, sending European gas prices surging by 13 percent.
Gazprom said today on its Telegram channel that Siemens had delayed the return of gas compressor units from repair, and technical issues prevented it from sending the planned volumes of natural gas to the biggest gas link to Europe. Only three compressor units can currently be used to ship gas westwards from the Portovaya compressor station in the Baltic Sea, Gazprom says.
Gas supplies to the Nord Stream gas pipeline can currently be provided in the amount of up to 100 million cubic meters per day, compared with a planned volume of 167 million cubic meters per day, the Russian gas giant said.
The lower supply of gas via Nord Stream to the biggest European economy, Germany, sent Europe’s gas prices surging by double digits on Tuesday, with the gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark gas price for Europe, up by 13 percent and the UK gas prices rising by 11 percent around noon in Europe.
Russian gas deliveries to Europe—not counting the countries already cut off from Russian gas—have already been down after Ukraine stopped last month flows from Russia to Europe at the Sokhranivka point due to “the interference of the occupying forces in the technical processes.” Sokhranivka is one of the two transit points of Russian gas via Ukraine to Europe, and thus supply was cut off for a third of the gas transiting Ukraine onto Europe.
Separately, Nord Stream, which bypasses Ukraine, is expected to undergo planned regular maintenance for two weeks in July, when there will be no flows to Germany, Klaus Mueller, the president of Germany’s network regulator Bundesnetzagentur said on Monday.
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