Irony of Russia Sanctions... 'Backlash' on Germany, 40% Cut in Natural Gas Supply

Gas Pipeline Turbine Repaired in Canada
Cannot Be Imported Due to Economic Sanctions

Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom.
Photo by AFP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Western economic sanctions against Russia have paradoxically led to a reduction in the natural gas sent from Russia to Germany.

On the 14th (local time), according to Russian TASS news agency and The New York Times (NYT), the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom announced that it had cut gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline by about 40%. This reduced the average daily volume from 167 million cubic meters by 40%.

Gazprom explained on Twitter that "the Siemens (German company) gas pump (GPA) sent abroad for repairs has not returned on time, so only three pumps can be used at Portovaya."

Siemens Energy of Germany also acknowledged, "Although turbine maintenance was completed in Montreal, Canada, Canadian authorities' sanctions against Russia prevented the return of the Russian turbine for the Nord Stream pipeline." According to NYT, the company has shared this situation with the Canadian and German governments to find a solution.

Gazprom stated that due to pipeline repair setbacks, it has no choice but to continue reducing gas supplies through Nord Stream.

The Nord Stream pipeline connects Vyborg in Leningrad Oblast, northwest Russia, through the Baltic Sea seabed to Greifswald in northeastern Germany, serving as a major route for exporting Russian natural gas to Europe. Its transport capacity reaches 55 billion cubic meters annually.

To double the transport capacity of the Nord Stream pipeline, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, completed last year along a similar route, was shut down by Germany citing the Ukraine war. This has made securing natural gas in Europe even more difficult.

Additionally, The New York Times reported that a fire at the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas, a major port exporting natural gas from the U.S. to Europe, has delayed normal operations by several months. This terminal handles 14% of the liquefied natural gas export volume produced in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Russia announced that it would halt gas supplies from the 1st of this month to the UK-Netherlands joint venture Shell Energy and Denmark's Ørsted. Prior to this, Russia had unilaterally cut gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, and the Netherlands.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.