Gazprom, a Russian state-run multinational energy company, has resumed gas flow to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline despite fears that Russia would completely block off supply in the region.
The operator's website featured data that showed gas had once again begun to flow on Thursday after the pipeline had been temporarily closed for 10 days for scheduled maintenance. However, it remains unclear whether or not Russia would continue to deliver the same amount of gas over the pipeline as it had been delivering before it was closed off.
Resumption of Gas Deliveries
The Thursday reading showed 21,388236 kWh/h of gas being sent through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline between 1:00 a.m. ET and 2:00 a.m. ET, which is well below the pipeline's full capacity. A spokesperson for the pipeline said on Thursday that they were in the process of resuming gas transportation through the pipeline, noting that the process could take some time.
On Wednesday, Germany's head of network regulator, Klaus Mueller, said in a Twitter post that Russia's Gazprom had scheduled deliveries on Thursday of only about 30% of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline's full capacity. Prior to the closing of the pipeline, Gazprom was only delivering 40% of its maximum, after a dispute over repairs to a key gas turbine, as per CNN.
The reduced supply of gas that was flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was attributed to Moscow squeezing deliveries to the region since the beginning of its war on Ukraine. However, even less than half of the maximum supplies would likely be a welcome relief to European officials who have been scrambling to find alternative suppliers to Russian gas.
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Germany, or the European Union more broadly, has long been dependent on Russian fossil fuels, and there has been a broad-based attempt to reverse this in the wake of Moscow's unprecedented and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
According to CNBC, since March, the EU has negotiated new gas deals with the United States and Azerbaijan and has held discussions with Israel and Qatar. On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia was blackmailing Europe and using the energy supply as a weapon.
Potential Russian Shutdown
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it was weaponizing fossil fuel supplies and the Kremlin was not immediately available for comments regarding the issue. Despite the restart of gas flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the EU will continue to push ahead with contingency plans in case of a full shutdown in gas supplies from Moscow.
The commission has said that the 27 EU nations do not need to cut their gas consumption by 15% until March, in an attempt to save energy. Von der Leyen also said that it was likely that the Kremlin would go ahead with a complete cut-off of gas supplies to Europe.
The news comes after Gazprom declared force majeure to European customers, meaning that it cannot be held accountable if it cannot guarantee the delivery of gas supplies to the region. The company cited exceptional circumstances, raising concerns of a prolonged outage, Reuters reported.
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