The commission gas from Russia in Germany will be suspended starting today for ten days to allow for maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs through the Baltic Sea and is considered the most important pipeline for fuel supplies to Europe’s largest economy.
The flow was scheduled to stop at 06:00 (local time; 07:00 Greek time) and, at least in theory, to resume on the morning of July 21.
However, several officials in Germany are expressing increasingly strong concerns that the flow may not be restored, as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues.
Germany and other Western countries have imposed successive rounds of sanctions against Moscow to force it to end the war.
However, many countries are heavily dependent on Russian energy, and Moscow, in response, has suspended or reduced gas supplies to several of them, a move viewed as retaliation in Europe.
The Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom has already significantly reduced deliveries through the 1,200-kilometer pipeline between Russia and northern Germany, citing delays in maintenance and repair work. Moscow attributes the delays to sanctions imposed by Western countries, an argument rejected by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The fact that only 40% of the pipeline's capacity was being utilized led to further price increases in the gas market, according to Germany's Federal Network Agency.
