Russia's state energy giant Gazprom has said the supply of natural gas to Germany will be delayed owing to "urgent maintenance work". The announcement was made on Friday, hours before the supply services were to be restarted after it was closed down on Wednesday for maintenance, AP reported.
Gazprom in its announcement has said the pipeline will be shut indefinitely after a leak was found in a turnine on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
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In a statement issued on Friday, Gazprom said the gas transissions via the Nord stream gas pipeline would remain fully shut down until the "operational defects in the equipment are eliminated."
The development comes at a time when Russia has strained ties with other countries in Europe following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The shortage of fuel and spike in prices after Russia's Ukraine invasion had already triggered fears that households in the European Union would not be able to afford the cost of fuel for heating in winters. Russia's shutting down of the pipeline to Germany has further fanned such apprehensions.
European Council President Charles Michel said the move was "sadly no surprise". "Use of gas as a weapon will not change the resolve of the EU. We will accelerate our path towards energy independence. Our duty is to protect our citizens and support the freedom of Ukraine," Michel said.
Russia's control of EU's energy needs
Over the past few weeks, Nord Stream 1 has been running at only 20% of capacity. Gazprom started slashing supplies through Nord Stream 1 in mid-June, citing delays to the delivery of a turbine that had been sent to Canada for repair, the AP said in a report. Russia has refused to take back the repaired turbine saying "it was subject to the Western sanctions." The Kremlin has maintained that the Western sanctions after Ukraine invasion are "preventing Russia from supplying gas via the pipeline".
Not only Germany, Russia has slashed down energy supplies to other EU countries that have showed allegiance towards Ukraine after its invasion by Russian forces.
In April, Gazprom switched off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay in Russian currency roubles. This was after Putin ordered "unfriendly" countries to pay for fuel in the Russian currency.
EU's dependence on Russia for fuel
Russia is the largest energy supplier to the EU. It accounts for 40% of its natural gas supplies and 27% of its imported oil at a cost of approxiately €400 billion a year, according to a BBC report. The EU has faced allegations of "helping fund the war in Ukraine" by buying the energy supplies fro Russia.
Earlier in march, the EU set out a plan to shift to green energy and reduce its dependence on Russian fuel to two thirds within a year to tackle climate change.
"Europe has been facing increased energy prices for several months, but now uncertainty on supply is exacerbating the problem. REPowerEU will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and power generation. This can reduce EU demand for Russian gas by two thirds before the end of the year," the EU said in a statement then.
"We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas. We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us," Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission had said.