Gas issue: how Moscow reacted to speculation about a possible suspension of supplies via Nord Stream

The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected speculation related to the suspension of gas supplies via Nord Stream.

“We are talking about planned preventive work.

They will be carried out, in fact, already from July 11 to July 21, ”said the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, during a briefing, noting that this is an annual routine event “as part of a long-term facility integrity management program to ensure its effective, safe and reliable operation.” .

According to Zakharova, the schedule for these works was agreed and coordinated in advance with partners in the transportation and supply of gas, and therefore "all speculation on this issue" is simply rejected and considered inappropriate.

“As for the operation of the gas pipeline (Nord Stream.

) in the future, much will depend on our partners both in terms of demand for gas and preventing the negative impact of illegitimate restrictive measures, unilateral sanctions on its functioning, as happened, for example, again with the repair of a Siemens turbine in Canada, ”said the representative of the Foreign Ministry.

Recall that in mid-June, Gazprom reduced the flow of gas through the pipeline by about 60%, saying that it could supply only 67 million cubic meters to Nord Stream.

m of energy per day with a planned volume of 167 million cubic meters.

The company explained this by delays in the work of Siemens, which, due to anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Canada, cannot return gas compressor units for the Portovaya compressor station.

On July 13, Gazprom stated that they could not make an objective conclusion about the further development of the situation with ensuring the safe operation of the Portovaya CS, which “is a critical facility for the Nord Stream gas pipeline.”

European claims

Recall that on July 11, on the day of the start of preventive work on the Nord Stream, Deputy Head of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis said that the EU countries continue to prepare for the risk of a complete halt in gas supplies from Russia.

According to him, the EC admits such a scenario.

Subsequently, on July 14, the European Commission released a summer economic forecast, which said that the EU economy "remains particularly sensitive" to changes in the energy markets "due to high dependence on Russian fossil fuels."

“The risks to the forecast of economic activity and inflation are largely caused by how the conflict will develop (in Ukraine.

) in the future and, in particular, how it will affect gas exports to Europe.

An increase in gas prices in the future may lead to a further increase in inflation and curbing (economic.

) growth, ”the document says.

• European Commission

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Santiago Urquijo

According to EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, this forecast implies downside risks, but is "characterized by a high degree of uncertainty" because it is not known "how reliable gas supplies will be."

“Moscow's actions are disrupting energy and grain supply chains, driving up prices and undermining confidence,” Gentiloni said.

“In order to stay on course, Europe must show leadership, based on the three key criteria of our policy: solidarity, resilience and security.”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron told TF1 and France 2 in an interview that Paris should prepare for a "tough scenario" if Russia cuts off gas supplies.

In turn, the head of the international oil and gas company Shell, Ben van Beurden, said during a conference in Oxford that European countries are likely to face a difficult winter due to high energy prices.

He did not rule out that they would be forced to resort to rationing gas consumption.

Van Beurden also believes that European governments and industry are in a difficult position due to the suspension of gas supplies via Nord Stream.

According to Bloomberg, gas prices in Europe have increased by more than 400% over the past year.

At the same time, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the reasons for such a jump in the cost of energy carriers were, first of all, the miscalculations of Western politicians, which "led to underfunding of the hydrocarbon sector in recent years."

As the department added, illegitimate restrictions, "which the United States often resorts to for political purposes, have an extremely negative impact on the energy market."

"Shift the responsibility to Russia"

According to experts, Europe is unreasonably raising a fuss about the possibility of a complete cessation of Russian gas supplies to the EU, since the Russian Federation has never given reason to suspect it of such intentions.

“In Europe, some kind of madness began with such speculations.

Brussels seeks to shift responsibility to Russia for its own inefficient energy policy in order to mislead Europeans.

The EU continues to blame Moscow for their energy and other troubles, because they cannot honestly admit that the whole point is in their mistakes and the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions that hit the European countries themselves, ”Sergey Pravosudov, director of the National Energy Institute, said in an interview with RT .

He also recalled that preventive work, similar to those currently being carried out on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, is also periodically carried out at similar facilities in Europe and Asia.

“They are conducted every summer, which is known to consumers in advance.

There is nothing extraordinary here.

However, in Europe, there have been speculations on this subject related to the fact that this kind of work on the Nord Stream could supposedly last longer, or could even end with a shutdown of the pipeline.

However, all these fantasies have no connection with reality, ”Pravosudov emphasized.

• Gas pipes in France

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Artur Widak/NurPhoto

In turn, Vyacheslav Kulagin, director of the Center for the Study of World Energy Markets at the Institute for Energy Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that if earlier preventive work at Nord Stream was invisible to European consumers, now the European gas market is responding even to this planned and standard procedure.

“Previously, gas was redirected along duplicate routes, but now there are no such opportunities due to Western sanctions.

If Nord Stream 2 had been launched, then it could have performed these functions, but in Europe such a development of events was also abandoned, ”the analyst stated in a commentary to RT.

Kulagin also commented on the situation around the repair of the Siemens turbine in Canada, intended for Nord Stream.

“This equipment has not yet been returned, although technical and repair maintenance should have been completed on time, without which an accident could occur at the facility.

At Nord Stream, the performance of all units is strictly controlled and the intervals for repair work, which were determined by the developer, are observed.

Therefore, the functioning of the gas pipeline will largely depend on the progress of these processes,” Kulagin said.

However, as Sergei Pravosudov notes, the EU defiantly continues to prepare for a “complete shutdown of the gas valve” by Russia, while there are no objective reasons for this, except for the desire of Brussels to quickly eliminate the EU’s dependence on Russian energy resources “without taking into account the interests of the countries of association ", the analyst believes.

“The EU is openly discussing how to stop buying Russian gas, but in the end they come to the conclusion that this is not yet possible.

At the same time, Brussels, like European national governments, still needs to explain the reasons for the rise in energy prices, which is why the number of anti-Russian statements is growing without any significant reason, ”Pravosudov believes.

According to Vyacheslav Kulagin, in the situation around anti-Russian statements in the energy sector by Brussels and a number of European countries, “not economic interests, but political speculation” prevail in the minds of European officials.

“The question here is no longer energy and not even the economy, but global politics and those far-fetched restrictions that Russia today has to face in Europe in the implementation of energy supplies.

The EU is constantly talking about toughening such sanctions, about eliminating dependence on Russian energy resources, but the Russian Federation is quickly adapting to the situation that has arisen and redirecting its resources to Asia, in particular, significantly increasing supplies to China, ”concluded the analyst.