Russia reduces gas shipments to Europe via "Nord Stream" 40% per day
The Russian giant "Gazprom" group announced on Tuesday that it has reduced its shipments of gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline by more than 40% per day, due to the failure to receive the necessary equipment from the German company "Siemens".
"Gas shipments via the Nord Stream pipeline can only be guaranteed with a quantity of 100 million cubic meters of gas per day instead of 167 million cubic meters per day as was planned," the Russian group said in a statement posted on "Telegram".
Among the reasons is the unavailability of compressors from Siemens, as “at present only three gas compressor units can be used” at the Portovaya compressor station near Vyborg (northwest Russia), where the Nord Stream line is supplied.
In a call with Agence France-Presse, Siemens did not want to "make a comment at the moment" on this issue, but made it clear that it was "clearing the situation, and whether this means our company and in what way."
Despite the decline in this delivery, the German government confirmed that "the security of supplies is still guaranteed" for the country, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Economy.
Despite the military intervention in Ukraine, the country still imports about 35% of gas from Russia, although this percentage was 55% before February.
Russian gas exports to Europe have been steadily declining since the start of sanctions against Moscow over its military intervention in Ukraine, and Gazprom stopped gas deliveries to many European customers who refused to pay in rubles.
Moscow has demanded that customers from "unfriendly countries" - including EU member states - pay for gas in rubles under pain of depriving them of supplies, in response to the sanctions imposed by the European Union against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, despite the contracts concluded that provide for Payment in euros or dollars, and a number of European customers refused to pay in Russian currency.
The pipeline supplies Germany with Russian gas through the Baltic Sea, through two sections, each with a length of 1,224 km. It has been in service since 2012, after costing about 7.4 billion euros in investments.
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