Shutting down of the Nord Stream will temporarily reduce Europe’s gas supply
Russia has reduced Nord Stream gas exports to Europe as the pipeline enters a scheduled 10-day maintenance period.
Although the routine repairs had been long-planned, some officials fear Russia might not restart the flow of gas in an attempt to destabilize Europe. Other repairs have missed deadlines in the past and now, Germany is bracing for a winter of limited gas supplies.
“As expected, Nord Stream 1 is at zero since this morning,” Klaus Müller, the head of Germany’s energy regulator, told Reuters on Monday.
“What happens at the end of the maintenance, nobody is able to say at this moment,” he added. “We won’t know any time sooner than a day before its scheduled end.”
German Energy Minister Robert Habeck, speaking in the Czech Republic alongside Czech Industry Minister Josef Sikela on Monday, told reporters it’,s “hard to say if it [Nord Stream I] will come back online after maintenance.”
Nord Stream, connecting Russia and Germany, is the longest subsea pipeline in the world and accounts for a significant chunk of the European Union’s gas supply.
“We are confronted by an unprecedented situation — anything is possible,” Economic Minister Habeck, told public radio over the weekend.