Russia's gas supplies to Germany continue to fall: Since early Wednesday morning, the energy company Gazprom, controlled by the Kremlin, has stopped supplying any gas through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline of the Portovaya compressor station.

But what happens if the technicians find a problem in those three days?

Then Nord Stream 1 would remain closed for the foreseeable future, and Gazprom would only deliver some gas to Europe via the Ukrainian pipeline system and the Black Sea pipeline Turk Stream.

But prices would inevitably continue to rise.

Catherine Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

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The tightening strategy has already worked well for Gazprom this year.

Even if exports to foreign countries have collapsed, the group is reducing its production and, according to satellite images, has to burn off huge amounts of gas because it doesn't know what to do with it - Gazprom is doing brilliantly entrepreneurially.

Thanks to the enormously high prices in Europe, the group reported a record result for the first half of this year with a net profit of the equivalent of 42.6 billion euros.

Apparently inspired by this, the Supervisory Board then, as a complete surprise, recommended the distribution of record dividends for the first half of the year, which has never happened before in the history of the group.

It was only at the end of June that the shareholders' meeting, which was dominated by the Russian state, decided not to pay out any dividends for 2021 for the first time since 1998.

The reasons given were a higher tax burden and necessary investments.

The decision sent Gazprom shares down 30 percent in one day.

Gazprom wants to pay out 20 billion euros

Now the whole thing was repeated in the other direction: on Wednesday, the papers shot up because of the dividend message.

A total of the equivalent of almost 20 billion euros is to be paid, almost as much as was planned for the whole of last year.

Analysts pointed out the curiosity that Gazprom stocks rose 7 percent on Tuesday a few hours before the news, which came after the market closed.

In addition to speculation about insider trading, this was also explained with the imminent shutdown of Nord Stream 1 and the price jumps expected as a result.

Gazprom claims that of the twelve Siemens turbines that are standing by at the Portovaya compressor station near the border with Finland to compress the gas there and build up the pressure needed to send it through the pipeline, only one is still operational all others would have to be sent to Canada for servicing.

The last one that is still working is now being checked for three days: apparently only by Russian technicians, but not by Siemens specialists, as Russian media reported, citing Gazprom.

Siemens Energy rejected this: “We are not involved in the maintenance.

However, we are available for advice if necessary," said a spokeswoman for the FAZ

Pipeline to China planned

This gives Russia the opportunity to decide whether to shut down the last turbine without being bothered by foreign technicians.

Meanwhile, a ready-to-use turbine is still waiting in Mühlheim an der Ruhr to be transported to Russia.

Gazprom claims they don't have the necessary documents and information to repair the machine, which Siemens Energy denies.

The Mühlheim turbine had been serviced in Canada, where it was temporarily stuck due to western sanctions.

Gazprom is therefore demanding written guarantees that the Siemens turbines and their maintenance will be exempt from sanctions and, citing the missing device and other failed turbines, has repeatedly reduced the gas flow through Nord Stream 1 from mid-June - first to 60, then to 40,

However, Gazprom is also paying a high price for giving up its most important sales market to date, Europe.

Because there are no alternative buyers.

Only on Tuesday did Gazprom announce that it would temporarily stop deliveries to the French gas supplier Engie from September because Gazprom had not received all of the payments for the gas it received in July.

Russia's monopolist has dealt with many of its former European customers in a similar way; entire countries are no longer supplied.

But the natural gas cannot be diverted due to a lack of infrastructure.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced on Wednesday that plans for a new pipeline from Russia's Far East to China will be finalised, but construction, if it comes about at all, is likely to drag on for years.

So far, only one line leads to China, which cannot yet be fully used.

From the beginning of the year to mid-August, exports to Europe, Turkey and China were 36.2 percent lower than in the same period of the previous year, and gas production was 13.2 percent lower.

But the closure of production sites is expensive and later difficult to reverse - this may be the reason why the group simply burns large quantities of gas near the Portovaya compressor station, as became known in early August through photos and satellite images.

Now, Norwegian energy analysis firm Rystad Energy has calculated that Gazprom flares around 4.34 million cubic meters of gas there every day, which is roughly worth $10 million, or $300 million a month.